A short transcript excerpt from a conversation between Hallie Bulkin and Lily about living and eating with Invisalign dental appliances. They discuss removing aligners to eat, food getting stuck—particularly on the chewing side and between the appliance and the palate—and strategies for detecting and clearing trapped food.
I bet you there's other people who are wondering, like, certain things about the appliances. So, like, how do you eat with the appliance? Because you can't take the top one out. Do you take the bottom one out? Like, you talked a little bit about how food gets stuck. Like, Lily, what is eating like for you?
I like to take out the Invisalign when I eat because it just feels like you're eating with plastic teeth. I feel like I can eat quicker and easier without the Invisalignin. Let's say, like, I was chewing on only this side. Then food would basically only get stuck on this side of the appliance. And it's like.
On the side you chew on.
Yeah. And on the side parts, I can, like, put my tongue in it and feel if there's food there or not.
Yeah. And so that's when we get used, like, the. The kicks sometimes to help, like, clear out the food from that particular area. But what's interesting, too, is that sometimes it gets stuck between the appliance and your palate. Right in the top of your mouth, roof of your mouth, and that that can be the hardest to clean up. Appliance is kind of now, like, up against the roof of your mouth, since it's coming down a little bit.
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