Are Retainers after Braces very important? – Dr. Shanaz

Have you had braces when you were younger and everything was perfect after removing them? Did your doctor prescribe you a retainer or placed a fixed bonded retainer at the back of your teeth?

If you answered YES to both of those questions, did you continuously wear your retainers every single day?

Most patients would be hesitant to answer this. Or usually would end up sniggering and shamefully admitting that they either lost their retainer or gave up on wearing it because they assumed they didn’t need it anymore.

Starting orthodontics on your teeth is like getting into a long term relationship. The journey starts with an interest, then braces, and after reaching the desired outcome, retainers are needed to solidify the result of this relationship. And like a relationship with your partner, the action of getting married further fortifies your commitment and devotion to one another. Which means, in terms of your teeth… to continuously have good straight teeth, you’ll need to end up marrying your retainers. And wearthem for life!

The function of retainers is to retain the current alignment of your teeth at the desired position. As you would continuously use your teeth to eat, forces are generated through chewing. To ensure that these forces don’t result in moving your teeth more, retainers help to secure them at place!

Hopefully this would provide good insights to patients undergoing braces currently. Stay tuned for the next post, where I deal with post braces cases where retainers were not used or lost. – Dr. Shanaz