Importance of Orthodontics After Care
Congratulations! You have successfully navigated your time in braces. Your teeth feel slicker than ever, and your smile has never been so broad. It’s exciting to see the results, isn’t it? Just because your braces are off doesn’t mean your orthodontics care is over. To maintain these beautiful results, there is some after care that needs to happen. That’s why the orthodontist gave you a retainer.
What do retainers do?
Because the human jaw continues to grow, shift, and change throughout our lives, it’s important to provide something that keeps teeth from shifting over time. That’s what a retainer is designed to do. After the time and money you invested into having a great smile, you want to do whatever necessary to maintain that smile for the long haul. Wearing your retainer is the best way to keep your teeth from moving again. It keeps the teeth in place, even as your jaw changes.
What happens if I don’t wear my retainer?
If you don’t follow your orthodontist’s instructions regarding when to wear your retainer, you risk your teeth becoming crooked, your bite moving out of alignment (a malocclusion), and your investment feeling futile. Think of your teeth like the foundation of a house. The ground may shift, but you want the foundation to remain straight through the shift. A retainer supports the foundation of your smile. Without it, your smile may shift with the ground beneath, altering the dental construction it was intended to support.
Are there different types of retainers?
In the same way there are different smiles and different reasons to need orthodontics, there are different types of retainers to serve different purposes. Some are removable; others are permanent. A Hawley retainer is the most common. It uses a fixed wire and custom plastic fitting to hold the teeth in place. Hawley retainers may be removed to eat and for cleaning. The other removable option is a clear retainer, called an Essix retainer. It fits over the teeth entirely, but because it is clear it is less obvious than a Hawley retainer with a visible wire. Essix retainers may also be removed for eating and cleaning.
In addition to (or in lieu of) removal retainers, orthodontists occasionally will place permanent retainers in patients’ mouths to maintain alignment. These wire retainers are held in place behind the teeth with a bonding agent. Because they cannot be removed, they can be more difficult to brush and floss around, but they are also more difficult to lose or forget.
Aren’t clear retainers and aligners the same?
After reading about clear retainers, you may wonder if clear retainers are the same as clear aligners. They’re not. Retainers hold your teeth in place and don’t move them, but aligners are designed to move teeth in a specified direction. That’s why there are series of trays over the course of orthodontics treatment with aligners. Each is programmed to move the teeth a certain amount and in certain directions. The job of a retainer is to keep the teeth still, to preserve what’s already been accomplished with treatment.
After care is important for maintaining your new and improved smile. Trust the appliances to do their job, and follow your orthodontist’s instructions for wearing them.
Other after care possibilities and why
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