Your orthodontist must have asked you to wear your aligners for two weeks or 14 days and then switch to a new set of aligners. Do you know Why Should you Wear Aligners? Why is the duration of an aligner set 14 days or 2 weeks?Or do you want to wear them for a short period to make the treatment faster by wearing them for 7 to 10 days? There are many reasons behind this.
” Don’t be impatience, allow aligners to work correctly. ”
Why Should you Wear Aligners for 2 Weeks
In the recent times, many aligners manufacturing companies and orthodontists have experimented with wearing duration of aligners with various treatment plans. The dentists/orthodontist suggested many patients wear a pair of the aligner for seven days, two weeks and three weeks. But what the studies have shown is, the aligners work better when they are worn for 14 days in which a patient have to wear 20-22 hours a day in a row. There are also other results that came out from these studies related to mouth gums, bones, and effect on teeth structure.
If you wear each aligner for seven days, it might be okay in initial days, but after few days you will start facing problems and discomfort which will make your treatment complicated. See, each aligner set gradually moves your teeth from 0.15 mm to 0.25 mm and do other movements; the overall progress takes time up to 2 weeks to complete. Your aligner may be adjusted or fit in few initial days, or it may be no longer tight but to work aligners correctly, you must wear them for 14 days or 2 weeks.
When your teeth move with aligner, it not only moves your teeth. In fact, if we see from an orthodontist view it is more than that. With aligners, your jaw bone that supports and anchors the roots of the teeth changes its shape in reaction to the tooth moving. And if you change the pair of current aligners before its ending duration, you are not allowing your jaw bones to settle them in their new position.
Don’t rush your aligner, give them time to adjust in gums and bones.
From the medical perspective, if you tried to move your teeth with aligners too fast it will lead to creating complications in your mouth like gum recession, bone loss and tooth roots damage, etc. Your treatment will not progress as your orthodontist planned it. This will lead to re-plan your therapy with necessary changes, and the treatment duration may increase further.
The wearing schedule is designed by your orthodontist to make the adjustments and corrections needed to fix your teeth in an ideal position. You may have 8 to 50 sets of aligners which means your treatment will continue for three months to 25 months. In some cases, patients are required to wear aligner lesser than two weeks. Your orthodontist can tell you better Why Should you Wear Aligners for 2 Weeks or lower. Never change your aligners set earlier than two weeks, unless your orthodontist directs you to do so.