What You Need to Know About Wearing a Retainer

Are you wondering what happens after your orthodontist tells you that you no longer need your braces?

At the end of your braces treatment, your orthodontist will remove your orthodontic appliance. The use of braces has reached the end of the treatment phase and has done its job of straightening your smile. Or has it?

Braces are ideally the go-to treatment to align crooked teeth. However, when they are taken off, it doesnt mean that treatment ends. To keep your smile straight, youll need to replace one orthodontic appliance with another. This is where retainers come in.

While braces serve to push misaligned teeth to their ideal positions, retainers keep the teeth in place. Retainers preserve the positions so your teeth will not shift and revert to their pre-orthodontic treatment state after the braces are removed.

Now that your orthodontist has given you your retainers, are you wondering how long you have to wear them? The length of treatment using retainers and the schedule of wearing them may depend on the likelihood of your teeth shifting, among other factors.

As our bodies develop, so do our teeth. This is what retainers are for. They keep the newly improved smile from going back to its pre-treatment state.

Most orthodontists would recommend wearing retainers no more than three consecutive months. These orthodontic appliances, however, may be removed when brushing or eating. Some patients, on the other hand, may only be required to wear retainers at night for the same period. But for those whose teeth have a high propensity to revert to their misaligned state, retainers may have to be worn every night for life.

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