How long can you go without wearing my invisalign retainers and still have them work?

Not long: You need to wear your invisalign retainers no less than 20 hours per day. If you don't, you run the risk of not getting the result you are trying to get. This can make the treatment longer to complete and still not get what you want. How long can you go without wearing them depends on where you are in your progress. Don't waste your time or the dentist time if you aren't going to do your part.

Retainers: The length of time you can forgo wearing your retainers depends on the original bite, the amount of time you have been in retention and how stable your treated bite is. The longer you have been wearing your retainers the less likely you will experience relapse if you miss a night or two. The worse the original bite the greater potential for relapse. Try to wear the retainers the best you can.

Not long: Experimenting to find the answer to this question is obviously not recommended. Everyone's teeth move at different rates and they may begin returning to their original position at different rates as well. Don't test it. Wear your aligners as prescribed.

Not long: Invisalign success is predicated upon great compliance. Teeth must feel the forces of tooth movement consistently to be moved predictably. Take them off only to eat and brush your teeth, put them on immediately afterwards.

Not very long: You really need to wear them at least 22 hours out of every 24. I inform my patients that over their course of treatment they can only have 1-3 sessions longer than 3-5 hours that the trays are not in their mouth and that is it. Btw we can tell the patients that wear the trays and those that do not. The more diligent you are the better and more predictable they work.

3 days: The most my patients have gone is 3 days. , but this was a one time thing and they had to wear the aligner longer to get it to work again. You really need to be committed to wear them 22 hours a day.

Couple of weeks: at most-- otherwise your teeth will start shifting back (but if you still have your old aligners, you can under the supervision of your orthodontist, likely get back what you lost and move forward again-- just extending your total treatment time)

Russian Roulette: The moment you stop wearing retainers your teeth begin to destabilize. You can't truly make up for a screw-up. As Invisalign is less effective than braces in optimally repositioning teeth, they are more likely to shift after treatment. Wear your retainers as close to 24hrs/day as possible. Try to not go without.