This process is called a mesial drift, meaning your pearly whites are always on the move. Your retainers will help prevent this from happening as you age. To maintain a straight smile for a lifetime, you're going to need to wear your retainers nightly for the rest of your life.
You'll have to wear your retainer for at least 10 years after you get your braces off or finish your aligner treatment. Many people wear their retainers for the rest of their lives. During the first three months after braces or aligners, you should wear your retainers most of the time.
At Orthodontic Gallery our advice is, that you must wear your retainers for as long as you want straight teeth. Over time and with the addition of fixed bonded retainers you may wear your removable retainers less often. But, we will never advise you to stop wearing your retainers completely.
You might wonder “Do I need a removable retainer if I have a permanent retainer?”. Even when using fixed retainers you still need a removable retainer if you had an orthodontic treatment that changed your arch shape.
The drawbacks of permanent retainers are that they: can make it more difficult to clean and floss the teeth. may trap in food particles that eventually cause cavities or gum disease. may cause discomfort when a person's tongue brushes against the wire.
Most orthodontists advise their patients to wear their retainers for the rest of their lives. However, the retainers only need to be worn at night and skipping a night here and there is no big deal.
When you stop wearing retainers consistently, the teeth will slowly shift and move into different positions. This means that formerly crowded teeth will become crowded and crooked again. Teeth that had spaces between then will revert to gaps opening back up.
How many hours should you wear your retainer? The first three months after you've completed your orthodontic treatment you need to wear your retainers full-time, which means approximately 22 hours a day. That does mean you will need to sleep with them. However, you can remove them when you eat or brush your teeth.
If you miss a day here and there, it's not a big deal. However, if you continually skip wearing your retainer, especially in the three years post-treatment, it can cause issues. If you skip or lose your retainer for a week, it's possible to have some small amount of relapse.
If you lose your retainer for a few days, you won't encounter many problems. You may even be able to go without your retainer for a week or two. However, any longer and it will hurt to put it back in. If this happens, you should not wear it.
For the first few weeks or months you may need to wear your retainers all the time, taking them out only when you eat and brush your teeth. Once your teeth have had time to settle into place, you can start wearing them only at night. It is usually recommended that you never stop wearing your retainers entirely.
Can I go 3 days without my retainer? Retainers are designed to keep your teeth in place, so going without wearing it for a long period of time may cause some issues. It's fine to miss a day or two, but if you go without it much longer than that, your teeth will start to shift.
Not only do you have to wear a retainer after you complete your treatment, but your orthodontist will definitely know if you've really been keeping up with it.
Practice Excellent Oral Hygiene
People who take good care of their teeth are less likely to experience tooth movement (though genetics and other factors play a role as well). This is because regular brushing and flossing remove trapped food and bacteria that could cause deterioration of the gums and bones.
Although many patients wear their retainers nightly for life, as time goes on, it's generally okay to skip a few nights of wearing your retainer. The best way to ensure your teeth remain aligned, though, is to continue wearing your retainer at least every couple of nights, if not every night.
Numerous people think that adult teeth won't change or move over their lifetime because they're permanent. This is false: adult teeth do and can shift over time, whether or not you had braces as a teenager or child. So yes, teeth move overnight, though the change might be imperceptible at first.
It doesn't matter if you've had work done five weeks ago or 10 years ago, your teeth will shift back and they can begin shifting back within as little as three days depending on your genetics and how severe the work of your teeth straightening was. Our best advice is to always keep a backup retainer on hand.
If you accidentally forget to wear your removable retainer for a day or two, don't worry too much. Resume your retainer regimen as instructed, and you should be fine. If it's been longer than that, such as weeks, or even months, try it on to see if it still fits.
Whether someone is using braces or Invisalign, however, an essential part of the process is wearing retainers in Powell afterward. Not doing so can actually allow the teeth to start drifting back to where they started, undoing all the great work a patient has done!
If you use a cheap retainer, it may have micro-cracks that you are not aware of. These cracks prevent the retainer from doing its proper job which may result in your teeth shifting even if you wear a retainer. Hand-crafting a retainer is an important job.
A permanent, or bonded, retainer may cost from $150 to $500 to put in place or replace if lost or broken. The cost of the initial placement may be included in the overall cost of your braces.
If your retainer feels tight every night to the point of discomfort, talk to your orthodontist. In most cases, this happens when you move to a nightly schedule too quickly. When you see your orthodontist, they'll likely recommend that you return to wearing your retainer for part of the day until your teeth adjust.
It's normal for your teeth to shift slightly after braces — however, they should still maintain their alignment. If you notice minor changes in your smile, you might need to wear your retainers more often. Skipping wearing your retainers for only a few days could cause your teeth to shift.
People hope to have a flawless smile after they have gone through orthodontic treatment. But sadly, it might not always be the case that your teeth are perfectly aligned even after you take your braces off. Despite having the best dentist, it is difficult to predict the exact outcome of any teeth straightening process.
Here's the short answer: As long as you want your teeth to remain straight, you should be wearing your retainers. It is recommended you wear your retainer at least 12 hours out of every day for the first eight weeks following the completion of your treatment.