What can be done when the patient loses the aligners?

Clear aligners are the latest fad in today’s insta-ready culture. More people now are consciously choosing to correct their “broken” smiles and clear aligners have let them do it aesthetically. While clear aligners let you live life to the fullest, their ability to be removed can sometimes come in the way of a peaceful day.

Even though you carry your aligner case everywhere you go, suddenly you’ve discovered that your case is empty and so is your mouth. If you neither have your aligners in your mouth nor in the case, where did they go? Now that you’re retracing your steps, you realize that you’d taken them off during lunch at that bistro an hour away and could have possibly lost them forever. Or perhaps in another instance, the ‘Butter fingers’ in you dropped your aligners on the hardwood floor and accidentally broke them.

Unfortunate and unpredicted events can happen from time to time. But what do you do when your aligners have gone missing or if you’ve broken a new set?

Here’s what to do if you lose your aligners!

If you’ve got no leads as to where your aligners could be, it is time to act now! Since time is of the essence when it comes to aligner therapy, the first thing you need to do is call your orthodontist and book an appointment with them as soon as possible.

Next, you make do with the second-best thing you have at hand – your old aligner set. This might be the right time to tell you this…

ALWAYS KEEP YOUR PREVIOUS SET OF ALIGNERS AS A BACKUP

Your orthodontist gives you a new set of aligners every one to two weeks. When they do so, they will most likely instruct you to hold onto the last set of aligners as a backup. This situation you’re faced with right now is exactly the kind your dentist anticipated with they made that suggestion. No matter how far you’ve come in your aligner treatment process, it is always wise to keep your last set of aligners in case you need them as a backup.

USE YOUR NEXT SET OF ALIGNERS

Most experts recommend that the best thing to do when you lose your aligners is to try moving up to your next set of aligners. Of course, this would only work if they fit well and if your dental progress matches that of the next set of aligners. Considering that they fit snugly and that you have them at home, you should wear them until you see your orthodontist.

When you change aligners unsupervised, you need to remember that you should be changing both the upper and lower aligners irrespective of if you have lost only one or both. Since these aligners are designed to work together, you need to move up to the whole next series instead of only one.

USE YOUR PREVIOUS SET OF ALIGNERS

If the next set of aligners does not fit well or if you don’t immediately have them at your disposal, the previous set of aligners will also work quite fine. However, if this tray no longer fits, you should simply call your orthodontist to receive a new set of aligners entirely.

To wrap up, let’s summarize the important points. First, contact your orthodontist immediately as they will want to check the new aligners for proper fit. Then, use your next set of aligners to compensate in the meantime. Remember! Use both the top and bottom aligners of the next set. If you don’t have your next aligners or if they do not fit well, use the previous set of aligners you’ve got. Schedule an appointment with your orthodontist as soon as you can.