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Undergoing orthodontic treatment of any kind requires making a few slight changes to your daily routine. While at home, this can be fairly easy to do; however, when traveling with Invisalign, you will need to make sure you do not fall out of your normal habits, as this can cause you to experience a delay in treatment. Here are three simple tips to help you stay on track.

Maintain Your Routine

It can be easy to slip out of your normal morning or nighttime routine while traveling, especially if you’re flying or embarking on a long road trip. However, it is necessary that you continue to brush, floss, and rinse regularly to avoid bad bacteria from forming and causing tooth decay or cavities. You’ll also need to make sure you’re cleaning your Invisalign trays as well.

Apart from the cleaning aspect of care, wearing your trays for the full 22 hours will most certainly be a challenge. Instead of embracing the opportunity to snack and sip all you want while enjoying your beach vacation, set an alarm on your phone for designated eating and drinking times. This will help you stay on track and avoid any potential delays in treatment.

Bring Additional Aligners Just In Case

The last thing you want to happen is to damage or lose an aligner and have nothing to wear for the rest of your trip. This can be disastrous to your orthodontic timeline, which is why your dentist will recommend that you bring extra aligners as a precaution. Should something happen to one of your trays, make sure to call your dentist’s office. In the meantime, you can insert another aligner, so your teeth do not shift back toward their original position.

Keep Clean Water With You

Depending on where you are traveling to, the water may not always be clean. Also, if you’re flying or visiting rest area bathrooms, you may not feel it too sanitary to try and rinse out your trays in these locations. This is why keeping clean bottled water on hand is important. It may not always be convenient to try and handle them both, but no matter where you are, you can easily rinse out your trays before reinserting them and know they’re clean.

Don’t let your Invisalign treatment keep you from enjoying your upcoming travel plans. By making a few additional accommodations and being mindful of your routine, you can not only embrace time away with your family and friends but continue to move forward in pursuit of a straighter smile.

About the Author
Dr. Rina Singh earned her dental doctorate at the Stony Brook School of Dental Medicine and continues to pursue additional education in various specialties, one of which is Invisalign. Providing patients with an alternative orthodontic solution, these clear aligners can easily straighten and improve the health and aesthetics of a person’s smile in less time than traditional braces. If you are already wearing Invisalign but want to learn how you can manage your treatment while traveling, contact us at (717) 937-8180 or visit our website.