Well, not literally overnight. But a couple of weeks ago I noticed for the first time that I had started getting things stuck between my two top incisors and that I could make sort of bubbles/popping between them if I pressed behind with my tongue. And if I look closely I can see a very small gap between them that I don’t think was there before. It is really quite small, but apparently enough to notice the change.
I haven’t had any trauma or anything to my mouth recently. But it still seems odd to start noticing it one day. I wonder if I should have a dentist check into it…
My mother knew of a woman who went to see an orthodontist who invented a new way to straighten teeth. He put this device on the woman’s teeth. That night she was in excruciating pain. The next morning she saw that all of her teeth had twisted sideways.
I know it’s true because I heard it third-hand when I was a really young child.
Actually, I had braces when I was a teenager, and I recall my orthodontist telling me that my teeth might drift back a bit over the years, unless I wore my retainer for the rest of my life :eek:
Nope. Just something that I’ve believed these past 40 years, and am just now thinking that it might not be the literal truth.
That I can personally attest to. I was supposed to wear my lower retainer through age 15, but felt that it made me uncool. I’d take it out whenever I was away from my parents. There was a special wire in it to hold one tooth in place. That tooth is not in place.
ditto. its been 30 years since i had braces, but i still wear both the upper and lower retainers at night, otherwise my teeth do drift and i can feel the difference in the morning.
I wore braces for a few years back when I was a teen and I can certainly see where some of my teeth have started heading back to where they where.
To the OP, yes, they absolutely can move overnight. One of the things my ortho was doing was getting rid of the gap between my two front teeth. He did that by using IIRC what was called a power chain. It connects all the brackets on my top teeth together and pulls them tight. After it had been on for a few days the middle part snapped. Within, literally, two hours the gap returned. When I mentioned it to the ortho he said that sometimes they make adjustments that cause movements that they can actually see in the office. There’s a reason braces hurt like hell.
A bondwire. I had that on my bottom teeth for about two years and then he decided I probably didn’t need it anymore.
Also WRT to retainers. I remember my sister got her braces taken off on the day of some big event (homecoming, prom, birthday etc) and was planning on just forgoing the retainer for that night. When I told her she couldn’t do that she was pretty surprised that she couldn’t just leave it out for a few hours. I tried over and over to explain to her that leaving it out for 6 or 7 hours a few weeks after getting your braces off will cause enough problems. But if you leave it out for 6 or 7 hours literally the day you get your braces off will probably mean getting your braces put back on since the retainer likely won’t fit back in at all at the end of the night (or at the very least going back in the next day to have the retainer adjusted).
Luckily she ran her idea past the ortho when she had her braces taken off and he told her it was a bad idea as well.
Just wanted to point out that sometimes an infection in the gums can make teeth move slightly, or even not-so-slightly overnight.
Unfortunately I know this firsthand.
I may be misremembering, but I don’t think I got my retainers for at least a week after my braces came off. From what I do remember (this was 20 yrs ago) they took the braces off, took impressions and had the retainers made. I certainly did not get my retainers the day my braces came off.
I’ve never had braces, and my teeth were nice and stable until I started grinding them in my sleep in my late teens/early twenties. I had a bite plate (an acrylic device that covered my upper teeth and kept my teeth from locking against each other) for 20 years, until the puppy found and destroyed it. Since then, I’ve relied on OTC grinding appliances, and they just don’t work as well.
My teeth have moved around, to the point that I can no longer get my upper and lower incisors to meet and use them to cut things. Sometimes, the headaches from grinding my teeth all night long are so bad, I literally have to press my upper incisors back, and then put my fingers inside my upper molars and pull them apart to relieve the stress.
I quit taking Prozac for my depression, and it turned out that it was causing the bruxism (tooth grinding) to be so bad, I wasn’t resting during sleep, so I’d wake up sleep deprived, causing me to feel depressed, causing me to take my Prozac. Talk about a vicious circle.
I got my braces off when I was 17, and gradually started weaning down the retainer. First it was all the time. Then just at night. Then every other night. Then every few nights. Then once a week. Etc.
I was wearing it once every 10 days for 15 minutes (just while I was in the shower) and that seemed to keep everything in line. I stopped wearing it this past summer, the day I got my wisdom teeth out. I haven’t seen the orthodontist in 6 years. My dentist said it was fine and my parents, who paid for the braces, said, “Whatever, you can’t be wearing that thing when you’re 40, if they shift a little then so be it.” It’s been about 3 months now and I haven’t noticed an appreciable difference.
Teeth can shift quickly, though. After I got my wisdom teeth out, I almost immediately noticed larger gaps between my teeth, probably because there weren’t any impacted teeth crowding them any more.
teeth can move over night. i floss daily, i can have some gaps pass floss easily one day and the next not able to pass the floss through (or break it if i tried). i asked dentist and was told that is perfectly normal. i get tightness that lasts for a day or two between some teeth that might occur every month or two.
