The short answer
Two hours out is breakfast, lunch, dinner and brushing. The people who finish on time built two or three habits in the first week.
Twenty-two hours a day sounds severe until you count it: two hours out is breakfast, lunch, dinner and brushing. The patients who struggle are not weak-willed, they are improvising.
Three habits that do the work
- Trays go back in before you clear the table, not later
- Keep a spare case in your bag and one in the car, never a napkin
- Change trays at night, so the tight first hours happen while you sleep
What slipping actually costs
At sixteen hours a day, teeth track more slowly than the plan and trays stop fitting. We then reset the series, which adds weeks. Tell us early: an honest “I have been at fourteen hours” saves months.
Nobody is in trouble for wearing them less. We just need to know, so the plan matches real life.
General information about orthodontic treatment, not advice for your mouth. Ask us about your own case at a consultation.