Hi aff1959, Congratulations on completing your treatment. I actually did not proceed with a bonded wire retainer. I have been wearing the Vivera retainers now for the past 4 months, and I am very happy with the retention. I slowly reduced my wear time to about 8 hours, while sleeping. The bonded wires are only in place to maintain retention on the anterior 4-6 teeth. The Vivera in your case are in place to maintain your molars and any arch movement that your treatment addressed. To answer your question, yes: If a bonded wire breaks, the Vivera will maintain your anterior teeth. I believe you can proceed with Vivera as your retention option and not have bonded wires. The Vivera are intended to maintain retention of your entire arch front to back. The cons to the bonded wires are the oral hygeine maintenance and recommended follow up appointment with your Ortho periodically to ensure the mechanical integrity of the wire/bond. You can avoid all of this by using Vivera exclusively.
I am 52 and am 1 month away from completing Invisalign. 11 U, 8 L is my treatment plan. Like alot of us, I had the metal braces in my teenage years. When my braces came off, my ortho said wear the retainer for 2-3 months then you can throw the retainer away. I know now the retainer phase is the important part of orthodontics. I have Invisalign because I had a 4 mm gap between my upper two front teeth and have always been self conscious about it. You really sold me on the bonded wire retainer. Does your bonded wire cover 4 or 6 teeth on both arches? I just hope I am a candidate for a upper bonded retainer. When you said that you dont want your bottom teeth to touch the upper wire that really made me hope that will not be my case. I too, will get the vivera retainer...the one that covers the wire. Do you know that if for some reason the wire breaks (u or L) do you still have retention protection with the vivera retainer?
