At what point can the attachments be removed?

[Golf71]

I am going to be on my last tray for my top teeth and have eight trays left for the bottom. If the top teeth are fine and do not require a refinement period, can the attachments on the top be removed while still wearing the last tray until until the bottom are complete at which point you will get a retainer for both the top and bottom. The ortho mentioned something along the lines that the top attachments need to stay in place until the bottom is finished. That did not make a lot of sense to me because the top teeth would not be using the attachments once the treatment was finshed. Any comments would be appreciated.

[Zoso]

I can only speculate that he may be concerned that the upper teeth may be more likely to move if wearing that final aligner without the attachments. That said, I believe I have read people saying that the trays are more obvious if they have notches for attachments, but those attachments are not present on your teeth, so you might be better off from an aesthetic point of view to keep them there whether or not it would impact how well the teeth are retained.

[Sunny]

Golf talk to your orthodontist and ask for more details. Ask if you can have an upper retainer to wear, as then you won't need the attachments.

Has there been any mention about the need for you to wear elastics? This can be done, with minor alterations to the existing attachments, and would be another reason for the attachments to be left in place.

Where I work, when one arch finishes treatment, if that arch is not needed in the treatment of the other arch, the attachments are removed. The patient then begins their lifetime of retainer wear.

Good luck!

[Zoso]

Some orthodontists prefer to order the retainers at one time, and so have the patient continue to wear the last aligner for the early-finishing arch until the other arch is ready. (Some also copntrive things such that if one arch is expected to be finished more quickly, it is started later, so both finish together). It's also possible, I would guess, that perhaps the ortho would prefer to wait until both arches are done in case it should turn out that unexpected issues with the arch that is still in active treatment require further tweaking of the other.

[havingitdoneintheuk]

Hey Golf,

I was in a similar situation - my uppers finished when I still had 10 sets of lowers to go. My ortho left the attachments on for a month after the uppers finished then took them off. She said they had done as much as they were going to do and that the aligner would hold them in place until I finish my lowers and have refinements done. (If I hadn't needed refinements on the uppers, she was going to give me a retainer on the uppers).

She even said I only have to wear the upper aligner at night. I do take it off if I've got big meetings etc at work but to be honest feel happier keeping it on! (The aligner is less noticeable without the attachments on).