How Often Should Your Invisalign Braces Be Worn?

If you have to, you are welcome to take off your Invisalign braces for short periods of time to eat, drink, and maintain dental hygiene. But your braces do need to be on for the remainder of the time. You should expect to have your Invisalign aligners on for at least 22 hours every day, and ideally they should never be taken off for more than a 30 minutes at any given time.

Moving teeth takes time, and your teeth are often fighting that realignment. Every minute that your teeth are without the aligners is time that they may be trying to return to their previous positon. Unlike traditional metal braces, which prevent teeth from moving back to their original positions, there is nothing to stop your teeth from migrating if the aligners are not inside of your mouth.

So while you can take off Invisalign when you need to, you should try your best to limit the time that they are not on your teeth. You will want to keep them on if you nap, in case you sleep longer than expected, during long presentations, and on dates as well (with the exception of taking them out to eat). With the exception of taking them off to clean your teeth or eat, the aligners should be worn throughout the day.

Get the Best Results from Your Invisalign

It is tempting to find reasons you may need to take the aligners off, like kissing your partner or singing in the shower, but it is in your best interests to keep them on as much as possible, with a minimum of 22 hours per day. This will help you achieve the best outcome, and reduce any chance of the aligners not moving your teeth to the desired location.