Retainer, do I still need it?

[Saamon]

So I've had my braces off since last March (I think) since then I've had a retainer.

In around August (I think) I had my last appointment and he told me just to wear my retainer just at nights - for as long as I can handle.

Well for the past few weeks I haven't worn it and it still goes in, not as snug as it once did, but still goes in.

Am I cool to stop wearing it now? I can't stand to wear it any more!

[Phantom Muse]

From my understanding, the only reason to stop wearing your retainer is if you want your teeth to move back into the position they were in before you had braces. Retainers are to be worn for life! After a certain number of months of full time or nightly wear, many people reduce wear to a few nights per week, BUT still they wear the retainer a few nights per week.

So many of us on this forum are undergoing treatment for the second time because we didn't wear our retainers regularly the first time around. It seems like a shame to let all of your "hard work" go to waste.

Hope this helps!

[Sunny]

Saamon you're never to totally stop wearing your retainers, unless you want your teeth to move some place else.

Teeth continue to move as long as we're alive and to keep them where they are when your ortho treatment finished means a commitment to some form of lifetime retainer wear. Usually we recommended full time wear for a set period, then every night, then two or three nights a week. Most of our patients choose to stay with every night, but having 'nights off' when maybe they're away from home for a night or two etc ... as this way they don't have to worry about not wearing retainers becoming a habit.

If you check this forum, you'll find many people are having ortho treatment for a second or third time due to lack of retainer wear. Also there are many thousands of people out there, who believe their ortho's didn't 'do a proper job' with their teeth, when the truth is, they didn't continue to wear their retainers at night for as long as.

Good luck and here's hoping you feel ok about wearing your retainers again very soon, as it would be a shame to have gone through ortho treatment to have your teeth return to the same or similar places to where they were before you began treatment.

[Vess28]

From my understanding, the only reason to stop wearing your retainer is if you want your teeth to move back into the position they were in before you had braces.

I want this! but after seven years of wearing braces, I wonder is it possible. They (my teeth) have been in one place for a very long time, maybe bones around the roots of my teeth are fixed now?

[Sunny]

I want this! but after seven years of wearing braces, I wonder is it possible. They (my teeth) have been in one place for a very long time, maybe bones around the roots of my teeth are fixed now?

There is no way you'll know how your teeth will move without wearing your retainers. The only thing you can be sure of, is that your teeth will move.