Wear your retainer...always...

amdublin

Thought my experience might be useful to yall.

10 years ago as an adult I paid a lot and had braces for 18 months / 2 years.

Afterwards was given retainers for at night with the instructions:
Wear all the time for 3 years and after that it's OK to wear every 2nd night or take a night or two off.

I wore them religiously with no issues for 3 years. Should have just kept on wearing them, but remembering the instructions figured a day or two here and there wouldn't matter. Anyhow once I missed 2 days in a row...no big deal i thought. A while later missed some more etc.
Anyhow long story short suddenly it hurt so much getting them on that I was waking up next morning and finding them on the locker beside me (not remembering a thing).
Then they got so painful I simply could not get them in.

Here I am 10 years later with small gaps between all my teeth and on my way back to see about getting braces/invisaline. All over again.

Wear your retainer! Even if the ortho says missing some days doesn't matter. Learn from my story!!!

helimachoptor

I'd agree, my wife had quite a lot of work done and she wears hers religiously but even if she misses one night, its a lot tougher getting it on the next night.

A friend of ours did invisalign.. didnt wear her retainer and is gone back for another course before she gets married, expensive case of laziness!

YellowLead

The kick up the arse I needed. I wore mine religiously for the first year, then I would skip the odd night, I haven't worn them for 4 months now (I know - lazy and crazy), going to get them on tonight - but I know so much damage has been done . If you have just gotten yours off anybody - you really do need to keep wearing them if you want to keep your teeth looking as perfect as when the braces came off!

amdublin

YellowLead wrote: »

The kick up the arse I needed. I wore mine religiously for the first year, then I would skip the odd night, I haven't worn them for 4 months now (I know - lazy and crazy), going to get them on tonight....

How did last night go after 4 months without?

YellowLead

Aaaaa, :mad: I forgot again. Tonight definitely and I'll post in the morning!

BabysCoffee

15 years later and I still wear my retainer - and my teeth are in great shape!

I never skip a day........except for one weekende when I went down the country for a wedding and forgot them.They were painful to wear after the break - so I took 2 paracetamol when I put them in

BorneTobyWilde

I wear mine every night. I rarely forget, maybe once a month. I was suppose to be back for checks but heard nothing? Should I have followed it up, its been 7 months. Checks were month, 3, 6 I think.

BabysCoffee

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

I wear mine every night. I rarely forget, maybe once a month. I was suppose to be back for checks but heard nothing? Should I have followed it up, its been 7 months. Checks were month, 3, 6 I think.

Don't need checks as far as I know. Just keep wearing them!!

I go back to get new retainers if my old ones break

amdublin

YellowLead wrote: »

Aaaaa, :mad: I forgot again. Tonight definitely and I'll post in the morning!

Did you wear them

YellowLead

I did actually. Was difficult to fit them on properly but I did pretty much. There was only minimal pain, and vague tenderness to touch when I took them off this morning - so either the retainer is worn and not doing its job any more (its over 2 years old) or my teeth haven't moved that much. I actually got it replaced around 5 months ago, but cannot find that one.

YellowLead

YellowLead wrote: »

I did actually. Was difficult to fit them on properly but I did pretty much. There was only minimal pain, and vague tenderness to touch when I took them off this morning - so either the retainer is worn and not doing its job any more (its over 2 years old) or my teeth haven't moved that much. I actually got it replaced around 5 months ago, but cannot find that one.

Wore them again last night, this time they fit on better. Very little discomfort while wearing them, but when I woke up this morning and to them off it was very painful. Still is quite sore now. I'm going to wear them religiously now. I know my teeth had moved slightly but I can feel them beginning to move back now after the last 2 nights so I think I can repair some of the damage.

amdublin

Big time worth it YellowLead

intheclouds

My god - do teeth really move back so quickly?!?

amdublin

Yep Seems so from my experience

amdublin

How are those retainers going for yall?! :-)