Even after we remove your braces or complete your aligner treatment, your orthodontic journey isn’t over! When your initial treatment is removed, it is normal for teeth to still be slightly mobile, meaning they can move back out of their proper alignment if you don’t follow the proper retention plan. This is where retainers come in!
What Do Retainers Do?
When your teeth are aligned through braces or Invisalign® treatments, they naturally loosen your teeth a bit to allow your new smile to shift its proper place. After your initial treatment is complete, you move into the process of “retention” to keep your teeth in their proper alignment.
The Science Behind Retention
Your teeth are connected to your bones and gums with a variety of different fibers. In the process of your orthodontic treatment, these fibers stretch and shift to accommodate the new positions your teeth are moving into. In short, the orthodontic treatment process loosens the tight bonds holding your teeth in place and allows them to shift into their new alignment over time.
However, these fibers can be like elastic bands, forming back into their original shape after being stretched. This works great for rubber bands, but when it comes to your teeth, these fibers may be “remembering” the original, misaligned position of your teeth. After all the time you spent achieving your dream smile, these fibers may undo your progress in a matter of weeks without a solid retention plan.
In most cases, it will take your oral fibers about a year to fully finish reorganizing around your new smile. This is where retainers come in, to keep your teeth firmly in place while these fibers finish adjusting.
Are Retainers Really Necessary?
If you’ve completed your orthodontic treatment, that means you committed yourself to a treatment that often takes over a year to complete. That’s a long time! We understand that, after all that time, it can be tempting to forget about the retention process. However, as mentioned above, bypassing the retention process will ultimately cause more harm than good when, after years of working towards a beautifully aligned smile, your teeth move right back into their original positions, undoing all your work, time and effort.
In most cases, we have our patients wear their retainers full time for the first month, gradually working up to the point where you’re only wearing your retainer consistently at night. Not only does this allow you to enjoy time without your retainer during the day, but because teeth commonly erupt at night, wearing your retainer while you sleep will protect your smile during this time when we expect the most tooth movement.
At Butterfoss Barton Orthodontics, we offer many different types of retainers, so you can rest assured that you can choose the style that suits you and your needs. With your continued effort to maintain your teeth alignment with the use of retainers, our team will create a beautiful smile for you that can and will last a lifetime!
For more information about the Butterfoss Barton Orthodontics retention process, contact us using the form on our contact page or call our offices directly at (757) 838-3400.
