No one wants to end up in a situation of having to repeat treatment because they failed to wear their retainer. Each patient should monitor their teeth and wear their retainer as prescribed, or even more if necessary. The length of time retainers must be worn fulltime varies since everyone is different. Immediately after your braces are removed is the most important time to really be a stickler about wearing it. Retainers are critical in preventing tooth shifting. Even if a bonded retainer is placed in the mouth, the position of teeth can still change over time. The forces of occlusion, wear, and the tongue all return as issues to which we must pay attention.
Once the braces are removed, we no longer have this control. During treatment, while the braces are on, the orthodontist carefully positions each tooth to be held tightly in place. Any movement from front teeth, however, is undesirable to both the patient and the orthodontist, so we want to prevent that as much as possible. Often, this settling results in a bite that is even better than when the braces were in place. Teeth will typically “settle” after braces are removed. It’s not realistic to prevent all movement, but the goal of orthodontic retention is to minimize changes after the braces come off. But that’s okay! The extraordinary, miraculous elements that make up our bodies, like anything else, are designed to change over time. Every part of your body, unfortunately, will eventually sag, wrinkle, or simply weaken with time. Guess what? You’re a walking example of entropy every day! And your shifting teeth certainly fall under that chaotic umbrella. Remember the chemistry lesson where you learned about the law of entropy? The law of entropy states that everything in the universe naturally changes from a state of organization towards a state of chaos.
For everyone that has had braces, had them removed, and had that joyful feeling of mouth “freedom,” nothing is more frustrating than noticing (sometimes immediately) that your recently perfected teeth are already shifting! Is this normal? What can be done? Did I do something wrong? I thought I did everything right?!
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