Invisalign Recommends Aligner Changes Every 7 Days - Comments by Your Toronto Invisalign Specialist

Recently, Align Technology sent a memo to all providing doctors that aligners can be changed every 7 days.   The previous recommendation was that aligners be changed every 2 weeks.

Many offices have been changing aligners for patients on a faster cycle using appliances such as AcceleDent and Propel VPro5, or for teens and midcourse correction or refinement aligners.  Other doctors have been asking patients to change aligners every 7 days by reducing the amount of movement per aligner.  In other words, the total treatment time remains the same, but there are double the aligners.

Our Toronto Invisalign treatments have been selected 3 times for publication by Align Technology and our team has taught doctors internationally how to use Invisalign.  There are definitely indications for faster cycle changes, but just like any braces treatment, the rate of tooth movement will depend on a number of factors including patient compliance, density of the bone, individual physiology, and the level of difficulty of the movement requested.

It is currently our position that due to the level of difficulty of many of the movements that our doctors perform, changing aligners every 7 days at this stage UNIVERSALLY is not condoned.  Note that this information comes after a "study" of 200 weekly changes.  Our patients have noticed that aligners may fit during the next few sets, but tracking of aligners will generally fall off later in treatment.  Of course, the shorter the treatment, the less likely treatment will go off track.

At the end of the day, there are many variables contributing to the decision on a cycle change schedule.  We have patients that change aligners on 3 week, 2 week, 10 day, 1 week, 5 day, and 3 day cycles.  Only your doctor who is familiar with the goals of the treatment and experienced with Invisalign will be able to determine exactly what the best aligner cycle is for you.

Read more about their release here:

A lot can happen in 7 days. Shorten treatment time with weekly aligner changes. Now it is possible to give patients the new smiles they want—sooner. As of today Align Technology recommends weekly aligner changes* to shorten treatment times without compromising outcomes. 2 weeks to 1 week     Weekly aligner changes, prescribed at the doctor’s discretion, simply involve instructing the patient to change aligners every week rather than every two weeks. No staging or velocity modifications in treatment planning are required. Analysis of progress data from 200 weekly wear cases shows that there is no difference in predictability or refinement rates with weekly wear cases compared to cases with two-week wear. Weekly aligner changes may reduce treatment time up to 50%, compared to two-week changes. Consider using weekly aligner changes for your patients. *Weekly aligner changes are recommended for all Invisalign treatments (with default staging protocol) for Invisalign Full, Invisalign Teen and Invisalign Assist products [The decision to prescribe weekly aligner changes is at the doctor’s discretion. Monitor tooth movements such as rotations, extrusions, and significant root movements; particularly blue and black movements in the Tooth Movement Assessment (TMA). Depending on the patient response to treatment, particularly mature adults, consider longer periods between aligner changes.