Tales of a snaggle-toothed bride to be!

Wow that's a lot of attachments! Hopefully they take you to the final result you're looking for .

As for retainers, it's quite odd to tell an Invisalign patient that it would take some time getting used to essix retainers, since they're pretty much like wearing aligners.

While we prefer to placed fixed retainers with our braces patients due to compliance issues, our Invisalign patients primarily use removable retainers for a variety of reasons... There are some situations where a fixed retainer would be ideal after Invisalign. In choosing your retainer, don't let your doctor just do what he "usually" does. Let him figure out what is best for you. Keep us posted .

Your teeth continue to look great ... and here's to this round of refinements continuing to go well.

I'm curious as to why you're listening to your regular dentist when it comes to retaining your teeth, when your ortho is the person who should know what's best?

I agree with what Dr Tam has written, as our invisalign patients have no problems with essix retainers for this reason.

Good luck with your teeth continuing to progress!

Hi - thank you both for your advice. Will definitely keep it in mind.

I think my regular dentist advised against fixed retainers as I have a history of gum disease (gums are reasonable healthy now) and she's seen cases where fixed retainers have made it difficult to clean and maintain healthy teeth and gums.

Regarding the two essix retainers - I'm a bit puzzled too but the explanation I received was that since the essix retainers are quite thick, some people find their bulkiness quite noticeable and it may have some impact on my bite? Does that make sense to you Dr. Tam? Otherwise I may have more questions for Dr.A!

oh - some exciting news - I just accepted a new job and since it's a management position, I should be getting enhanced benefits as well. Hopefully this will mean even better dental/ortho coverage. Not that it's bad now just that it would be nice to be covered for Vivera retainers so that I can switch them every 3 mos.

The one time we don't recommend the essix type retainers is if the person has had an open bite of any form. This is due to the teeth not connecting when the retainers are on. For a peerson using invisalign this isn't the case, as they're using aligners already, but for people with open bites who've been treated with braces, it's not recommended.

I've had gum disease in the past due to not flossing, but my oral hygiene is now excellent and my ortho is recommending bonded upper and lower retainers. We've had a few patients who don't get them, but it's usually due to their poor oral hygiene, as they do require a slightly higher level of oral hygiene, but like most things that are worth having ... there is some 'price' involved.

Fantastic news about your new job. Good luck with the benefits etc!

Your teeth are looking GREAT! I'll weigh in on the Invisalign retainers as I just started wearing mine a week ago. I do like them VERY much as there was NO adjustment to the feel of them at all. They were tight initially - I needed a tiny adjustment to a tooth - but they have settled beautifully. They are definitely stiffer than the regular trays, but they don't feel thicker to me at all.

Hope this helps, and congrats on such amazing progress!

You're done? That's fantastic - are the pictures posted anywhere??

Did you get vivera or essix retainers?