Invisalign for Children

Invisalign First is the Invisalign product that is custom made for a younger child that needs early orthodontic intervention. Most children do not need orthodontics until all of the baby teeth have fallen out. However, there are certain unique situations – like extreme crowding, a severe overbite or an underbite. In these specific cases, a child may benefit from intervening at a young age and your orthodontist may recommend Invisalign First.

To give you an example, we had a patient who knocked out 7 front baby teeth at a very young age. Ouch! Years later, when the front adult teeth came into the mouth, these teeth of course were very crowded and all over the place. They actually came into the mouth so poorly that they were blocking the space for future adult teeth and creating a major bite problem. In this situation of extreme crowding, we used Invisalign First at a young age to align the teeth into proper position.

The answer depends on your child’s personality. If a rule-follower, Invisalign First would be very successful. If your child is forgetful or cannot be counted on for the added responsibility, then Invisalign is probably not the right choice. In our office, we evaluate each individual and give customized recommendations. For example, if a parent starts talking about how their child forgets everything, we are likely not going to lean towards Invisalign. On the other hand, if a parent talks about their child’s high level of maturity and attentiveness to detail, Invisalign would certainly be an option to consider.

Believe it or not, this is actually quite rare. We have lots of our Staten Island patients, both kids and adults, in Invisalign and we ordered less than 10 replacement trays total all of last year, and half of these orders were actually for the trays being damaged (by stepping on them or a dog chewing them). So, our orthodontists don’t view this to be too big of a problem, but we do get this question a lot!

Invisalign uses a series of clear trays to gradually move your teeth, with each tray accomplishing a little bit of tooth movement. You progress from one tray to the next. The orthodontist will let you know how often to change the trays, but the typical range is one week to three weeks per tray. This depends on the specific movements being done at the time, so our orthodontist will let you know exactly how often to change Invisalign trays.

The first few days of Invisalign are unfortunately a little uncomfortable, as your teeth are moving for the first time ever. You will be sore when eating in just the beginning so most people will have softer food – smoothies, yogurt, soup, mashed potatoes, oatmeal…

Also, in the beginning, you will notice some extra spit. Your mouth gets confused initially, thinking the trays are food, so there will be a temporary increase in spit production, then this goes back to normal in around a week.

Some parents do give some Tylenol or Advil in the beginning, of course following the doctor’s directions and medication’s instructions.

Actually, they are pretty easy to keep clean but require some work. Every time you brush your teeth, you will take the trays out and brush the trays as well. However, when brushing your Invisalign trays, you want to use a toothbrush with only water or soap and water. You should not be using toothpaste when brushing your trays, because the abrasives in the toothpaste will actually scratch the inside of the trays and cause them to discolor rather quickly.

Some patients also like to use a retainer cleaning product that you soak the Invisalign trays in each night or weekly, Retainer Brite is the most popular product among our Staten Island patients.