Reviewed by Dr. Derek Reznik, DDS, MS
The braces come off, the photographs get taken, and then somebody hands you a retainer and explains that the part you thought was finished is not finished. It is the least popular five minutes in orthodontics, and it is the five minutes that decides whether the previous two years hold. Retainer questions come up at every retainer check, and those happen at the Midland office on Loop 250 and at the Odessa office on E 52nd St.
Why teeth move back
A tooth sits in a socket held by a ligament rather than cemented in place, and that ligament has been stretched and compressed for the whole of your treatment. Until it settles, it pulls. On top of that, teeth shift naturally throughout life, treated or untreated: lower front teeth crowd gradually with age in most people, and the jaw keeps changing subtly for decades.
A retainer is not a formality at the end of treatment. It is the part that makes the treatment permanent.
The three kinds
Clear retainers are thin, transparent and molded to your teeth. Least visible, easiest to live with, easiest to lose.
Wire retainers are an acrylic plate with a wire across the front teeth. Bulkier, more durable, adjustable if small changes are needed later.
Permanent retainers are a thin wire bonded behind the front teeth, usually the lower ones. Nothing to remember and nothing to lose, which suits people who know themselves. The trade-off is cleaning around a bonded wire.
Which you get depends on your case, and some patients have a bonded retainer on the bottom with a removable one on top.
How long you wear it
Longer than you want to, and the honest answer is indefinitely. Wear usually starts full-time and reduces to nights once things have settled, on a schedule your orthodontist sets for your case. Nobody says “you can stop now.” Nights become a habit and it stops being a decision you make each evening.
Cleaning it
Brush removable retainers with a soft toothbrush and cool water daily. Never hot water and never a dishwasher: heat warps the plastic, and a warped retainer does not fit. Permanent retainers get flossed daily with a threader. Keep the case with you and use it; retainers wrapped in a napkin at a restaurant end up in the bin.
If it is lost, broken or does not fit
Call the office. Do not wait, and do not force a retainer that has stopped fitting. One that feels tight after a few nights off is telling you the teeth have started to move back, and wearing it more usually settles that within a few days. One that will not seat at all means more movement has happened than it can correct; forcing it risks breaking the retainer or damaging a tooth. Expect either a new retainer made to your teeth as they are now, or a short course of treatment to bring them back before a new retainer holds them.
Your treatment fee covers one set of final retainers on completion of comprehensive treatment; replacements carry a fee, which the office will tell you before anything is made.
If it has been years rather than weeks and your teeth have visibly shifted, that is a different conversation and a solvable one. See complex cases and retreatment, and note that nobody there is going to tell you off.
The first few months matter most
The period straight after braces come off is when teeth are most inclined to move, because the ligament holding each tooth has not settled into its new arrangement yet. That is why wear starts at its heaviest and reduces later rather than the other way round.
It is also when compliance is easiest to lose. The braces are off, the photographs are taken, and the treatment feels finished. It is not, and a few weeks of casual wear at that point can undo months of work.
Questions about your retainer?
Call the Odessa office at (432) 333-7105 or the Midland office at (432) 682-1222.
Not a patient here? Dr. Megan Reznik and Dr. Derek Reznik are each a Diplomate of the American Board of Orthodontics, and consultations are free at both offices. Request an appointment.