You finally finished braces or Invisalign, and your smile looks better than ever. Your orthodontist at Saddle Creek Orthodontics hands you a retainer with some clear instructions, and you promise to wear it. You follow the rules for a while, but then one skipped night turns into two. Weeks go by. Now you’re wondering: what happens if you stop wearing your retainer? Let’s talk about it.
What Is A Dental Retainer?
Did you know your teeth are very stubborn and not very big fans of change? After we move them, they’ll always want to return to their original positions. Fortunately, we orthodontists figured this out a good bit ago and have come up with a solution that helps you preserve your new smile and protect your orthodontic financial investment. Retainers!
A retainer is an orthodontic tool that prevents your teeth from shifting. There are three types of retainers: the Hawley retainer, the Essix retainer, and the fixed retainer. The removable Hawley retainer is likely what most people think of when they think of an orthodontic retainer. It’s made of acrylic and has a wire that sits in front of the teeth. The Essix retainer is also removable. These are clear plastic trays that look like an Invisalign clear aligner. Fixed retainers are not removable and sit behind the teeth for discreet smile protection. Which option is right for you depends on your smile’s needs and your lifestyle. Your Memphis orthodontist at Saddle Creek Orthodontics will help you determine the one that will best help you maintain your results.
What Happens If You Stop Wearing Your Retainer After Braces?
Besides teeth being partial to the spots they were in before treatment, there are other reasons your teeth can move. Shifting teeth can be caused by bruxism (teeth grinding), aging, gum issues, hormonal changes, tooth loss, and more. A retainer minimizes the possibility of movement.
If you don’t wear your retainer after braces or aligners, you run the risk of all of your hard work—flossing and cleaning your braces, keeping track of your aligners, wearing your aligners, watching people eat our favorite non-braces-friendly foods and having to use your incredible self-discipline to say no thank you when it’s offered to you, brushing your teeth in public, et cetera—going to waste!
It doesn’t take long for the shift in your teeth to become noticeable. If you go long enough without wearing your retainer, your teeth will shift enough that it won’t fit anymore. In a worst-case scenario, not wearing your retainer could result in you needing to restart active treatment.
How Long Will You Need To Wear A Retainer?
Retainers are especially important immediately after active treatment ends. Metal braces, Invisalign, and clear braces are able to move your teeth due to the natural bone remodeling process of the body. Long story short, when we remove your brackets and wires or tell you to stop wearing your aligners, the body needs time to complete the bone remodeling process. A retainer helps ensure your teeth maintain alignment during this critical phase.
However, this is not the only time retainers are invaluable to your smile. Remember when we said teeth are stubborn? They will always be trying to return to their original alignment. If you want to maintain your new alignment, your dental retainer will need to be part of your daily life for a long time.
In the beginning, you’ll likely need to wear your retainer every day and night. After a while, Dr. Kyle or Dr. John, our Germantown and Collierville orthodontists, might permit you to only wear it at night. Wearing it as instructed is crucial to avoid gaps reappearing or teeth forming cliques and crowding together. You don’t want to come in for a retainer fit check or to get a replacement and find out you could use braces or aligners again!
How To Stay Motivated To Wear Your Retainer
The most common reason patients need retreatment is that they didn’t wear their retainer as directed by their orthodontist. At Saddle Creek Orthodontics, we’ve seen how easy it is to get out of the habit of wearing your retainer, and how quickly some can forget about it altogether. We want you to love your smile for a long, long time, so our team has put together some tips to help prevent you from breaking up with your retainer.
- Get Extras: If you can, purchase an additional set of retainers to have just in case. Even the most careful of patients can lose or damage their retainers, so an extra set can be incredibly helpful. You don’t want to fall out of the habit of wearing them as you wait for a replacement.
- Keep Extras: Lost your retainer, got replacements, then found the lost set? That’s great! Don’t toss them on account of the new ones. Keep them both! They can be your “just in case” set.
- Replace Quickly: If you’ve lost or damaged your retainers and don’t have a just-in-case set, contact our Germantown or Collierville offices ASAP for a replacement. You want to get new retainers while it feels weird not to be wearing them, to reduce the chances of you not wanting to wear them.
- Remember: If you ever feel like not wearing your retainers, try to think of why you started treatment in the first place. Did you not like the aesthetics of your smile? Were crowded teeth hard to clean and causing oral health issues? Did a crossbite make chewing difficult? Did you have constant jaw pain? Remembering why you started this journey can be a great motivator!
- Think Ahead: Whenever you feel like shrugging off a lost or damaged retainer, or find yourself thinking, “My buddy didn’t wear their retainer and their teeth are fine…,” think of the future! Imagine your teeth do shift. You don’t want to be shaking your fist at your reflection, saying, “Why didn’t I just wear my retainer?” Your new smile was an investment that took a lot of hard work. Don’t let it be for nothing!
What Do You Do If You Haven’t Worn It In A While?
We understand that life happens. Sometimes you’re unable to get a replacement right away, or you might have bigger, more important things to worry about, and wearing your retainer falls to the back burner. It’s okay. We don’t judge. Whatever the reason you haven’t worn your retainer in a while, the next steps are always the same.
Set up an appointment to see your Memphis orthodontist, even if you still have your old retainer. We need to make sure your teeth haven’t shifted. Wearing an old retainer could damage your teeth or cause further shifting.
The appointment will be quick and easy. We’ll adjust your retainer, order you a new one, or, if necessary, give you the option to go back in active treatment to fix in movement.
Love Your Smile. Protect Your Results With Saddle Creek Orthodontics.
Retainers don’t ask much from you, but they give a lot in return. You already did the hard part. Now it’s about keeping what you earned. Saddle Creek Orthodontics is here for you. If you’ve lost yours, stopped wearing it, or have no idea where it went, contact our Germantown and Collierville locations, and we’ll help you get your smile back on track.