Why Wearing Your Retainer is so Important

So it's finally time to get your braces taken off, after months, maybe years, of wearing them. Congratulations! But there are a few things you need to know about post-orthodontic care for your teeth.

Your orthodontist has probably already told you that you'll be needing a retainer to keep your teeth straight and in line. There are several different types of retainers; which one you'll be wearing is up to your orthodontist. If you are not going to be wearing the kind that is cemented into your mouth, then this article is meant for you.

There are two different types of removable retainers: the clear trays and the metal kind. If you'll be wearing the clear retainers, you'll have impressions made for them. Impressions are just a 3D copy of your teeth. The ortho will fill a dental tray with a silly putty type substance. Then he/she will place the tray into your mouth and over your top and bottom teeth. It will push the substance onto your teeth, making an indentation in the tray. Once the trays are taken out, you'll see prints of your perfectly straight teeth. After the impressions are taken, your clear retainers will be made for you. They come in 2 different retainer trays, one for your top teeth and one for your bottom teeth. You'll wear both of them at the same time. It may take a while to get used to them, but after a while you won't even notice that they're there. Metal retainers do the same job. When you smile, it will look like a thin piece of metal is going across your teeth.

I cannot stress this enough, but it is extremely important to wear your retainer as much as your orthodontist tells you. If he/she tells you to wear it at least 12 hours per day, do it. If you don't, your teeth WILL move out of place, into their original, crooked places. Braces put pressure on your teeth, forcing them to move to a straighter position. After your braces are taken off, that pressure doesn't just go away. It takes a while for your mouth to get used to your teeth being in the new positions. A retainer will hold your teeth straight while your teeth settle and pressure subsides. Not wearing a retainer lets your teeth move, because there won't be anything there to keep them in place.

I learned my lesson about this, because I didn't wear my retainer as much as I should've when my braces came off. I went through orthodontic treatment for a little over 2 years, then I was told to wear my clear retainers every night. I did for about the first 2 months or so, then I slacked off and forgot to wear them. My wisdom teeth were starting to come in, and wearing my retainer hurt my teeth so much that I just didn't wear them. Eventually, this caught up with me and my teeth started to move. After about 2 years, my teeth looked horrible and crooked again. Part of this problem was the fact that my wisdom teeth were impacted, and they pushed my front teeth out of alignment.

I'm an adult now, and a nice smile is very important to me. I just couldn't have crooked teeth, because it really affected my confidence and self-esteem. That's why I am now spending $2,500 on Invisalign treatment to re-straighten my teeth back to the way they were when my braces came off. Those thousands of dollars that my parents spent on my braces went down the drain, for the most part. I am lucky that most of my problems were corrected with braces, and stayed corrected, like my overbite. My current orthodontist said that my teeth aren't too bad, since I will only require 5 months of Invisalign treatment - compared to another 2 years!

If you don't want to lose your nice, straight teeth that you spent years to achieve, make sure you wear your retainer as directed. Remember the pain you went through when you had your braces tightened and having all of those sores in your cheeks from the metal? Don't risk having braces put back on, just because you didn't wear your retainer. You didn't go through orthodontic treatment for nothing, just to have your teeth go crooked again. It's really important to wear your retainer, because braces are a huge investment. This time around, I will for sure wear my retainer after my Invisalign treatment is complete in about 1 ½ months. I don't want my investment to go down the drain, especially since I am paying for it this time! I want to keep my straight teeth and nice smile for a lifetime, you should too. I hope my awful experience has convinced you to wear your retainer!