Since Invisalign aligners are removable patients can take them out to eat, drink, and care for their teeth. This might make it tempting to remove them more often than prescribed… and that’s where Invisalign Teen Compliance Indicators come in.
You must wear your Invisalign aligners at least 22 hours a day in order to keep your Invisalign treatment on track.
The more frequently you remove your aligners and the longer you keep them out, the more significant the setbacks to your treatment will be. Treatment will take much longer than anticipated for patients who do not comply with proper wear.
Invisalign Teen Compliance Indicators help remedy this problem, making it easier for the orthodontist to tell if their patients are following directions.
So what are compliance indicators?
Invisalign Teen Compliance Indicators are a series of blue dots on the backs of the aligners. The dots can't be seen when the aligner is worn. The blue dots will slowly fade away over the two week period when the aligners are worn. If you fail to wear the aligners as you should, the blue dots will still be visible to your orthodontist.
If the orthodontist consistently sees the blue dots when the patient comes back for checkups, they’ll be able to tell that the patient is probably not following directions for aligner wear. This will give the orthodontist the opportunity to remind the patient and their parents about why wearing the aligners as recommended is important. The orthodontist may even discuss other treatment options such as traditional metal braces, if the patient can’t or won’t comply with Invisalign treatment instructions.
The compliance indicators can also tell the orthodontist if the treatment is effective. For example, if a patient has been diligent about wearing the aligners as prescribed, yet the hoped-for tooth movement is not taking place, the orthodontist is able to adjust the treatment plan accordingly.
The compliance indicators can also help the patient stay on track with treatment. The Invisalign aligners have been carefully calibrated to achieve a certain amount of tooth movement during each stage of wear. Switching to a new set of aligners before your mouth is ready, or leaving a given set in for too long, can actually slow the treatment process.
When a patient has been taking their aligners out more often than they should be, or leaving them out for long periods of time, it's easy for them to lose track of how much longer they need to wear that set of aligners. Because the compliance indicators will only fade after a given set of aligners has worn for a full two weeks, it makes it easier for the patient to pick up where they left off.