I got my braces taken off about 4 years ago. I used to wear my retainer everyday and then every few days. Now I’m lucky if I wear it once a week or every two weeks. Do I have to wear my retainer for life to keep my teeth in line? I asked the orthodontist and he said yes which I think is odd. Don’t these retainers break? Am I supposed to replace it and wear it until I die? Have any dopers had their teeth get crooked again after going through orthodontia treatment?
I wore braces for 2-1/2 years in high school, wore a retainer for a couple of years afterwards, and then haven’t worn the retainer in the 15+ years since then. One of my teeth turned a little, but other than that, my teeth have remained straight. I don’t regret not wearing my retainer at all, but maybe other Dopers have had different experiences.
I had braces and major jaw surgery as an adult…age 27. I wore my retainers for a hear or two after the braces were removed, but after I no longer had to see the orthodontist, I stopped wearing the retainers, mainly because I lost them. One of my front lower teeth turned slightly…so slightly that it’s barely noticeable. That’s the only problem. And after almost 20 years, I’m still thrilled with the results.
I’m in a situation very similar to the OP - got my braces off a bit over four years ago, and I’m told that I have to wear my retainer once every week (or so), for ever. Usually I wear them for a couple of days every week or two. If I leave it for three weeks or more, it tends to hurt a bit when I put them back on, which leads me to believe that my teeth are moving around in the absence of the retainer. Not such a pleasant thought.
~ Isaac
I had braces for, I’m not sure, about four years I guess, in middle school and high school. I wore my retainer pretty dutifully for several months, I think, and just at night after that. I’m 24 now and haven’t worn it in years. I don’t remember ever hearing that I was supposed to wear it forever. What good is one night a week going to do, anyway? One of my teeth has gone slightly awry, but that’s it.
Could this be a relatively recent change in technology or procedure? (Of the few replies, it seems the ones who had braces a long time ago were not told to wear their retainers forever, and the more recent one was, as was the recent OP.)
I had braces removed 13 years ago, and was told I’d need to wear the retainer for some amount of time I don’t remember (not forever), but I didn’t. My teeth drifted a whole heck of a lot, but they never got as bad as before the braces.
I wore braces from 1963 to 1966, then wore a retainer for a few months afterwards. Nothing since.
Brace for two years, in elementary school. Was supposed to wear a retainer all the time for a while, which I did for about a week and then stopped wearing it totally. Allegedly I was developing jaw problems: I still think we got conned, because my teeth are still extremely crooked.
Have recently decided to stop going to the dentist entirely, because every time I’ve gone in the past two years he’s come up with “work” that “needs” to be done, most of which is not covered by insurance, apparently.
Braces for the better part of six years, IIRC, while in elementary and junior high school. Retainer for another two years or so after that, but was never told I had to wear it forever. Yikes! That’d be a daunting prospect.
I had braces in middle/high school. The whole deal with the horrible over the top of the head headgear. Anyway, didn’t wear my retainer much after.
Cut to age 31 (1998), my teeth were crooked again, caused in part by not wearing a retainer so my teeth didn’t “set” and also by the weird way I swallow which also caused bone growth in my jaw. Got braces again which I paid for all by myself (no parents to foot the bill this time).
Got the braces off in 2001 and I still wear my retainer every single night. If I go a night without it, it feels tight the next night. I figure I paid for these teeth and I danged sure don’t wanna pay for them again. Plus braces as an adult pretty much sucks.
One of the things that convinced me to wear the retainer so much is seeing my x-rays at the dentist. The roots of my incisors are shorter than normal teeth and the dentist said that was caused by the braces I had as a child. So teeth that have had braces have less root to anchor them and are much more liable to reshift. That might be why orthodontists nowdays recommend you wear your retainer more.
Braces for about two and half years in junior high and high school. I wore my retainer for about a day and a half. Never had another problem, no crooked teeth.
I got mine off about four years ago after two years of wearing them. I wore my retainer just about everyday 24 hours for six months, now I wear it just about every night. I don’t wear it when I’m sick or at a sleepover or something because it makes me lisp really badly, but it feels tight if I don’t wear it for a few days. My teeth haven’t moved at all, though my brother’s teeth have and he never wore his retainer.
I had braces as a kid (middle school age, I guess), and wore a retainer for a few years and now have braces again at the advanced age of 41, due to my teeth shifting, which is normal as one ages.
I’m supposed to have them for about 18 months, and will get a retainer which I should expect to wear for several years. But certainly not forever.
I had partial braces as a preteen in order to correct an overbite. Ended up losing the retainer somewhere.
Ah, braces. That takes me back. Oh, remember the disgusting, glorious days of food stuck to the fronts, strumming on the rubber bands with your tongue and the monthly trip to the orthodontist to have them tightened, followed by days of pain and the inability to eat anything firmer than Jell-O? I sure do.
You know that gap in Letterman’s front teeth? I had one like that until I had my braces.
I had them from seventh grade through junior year, followed by an upper retainer for about 2 years and a lower retainer for 4. My teeth set pretty well except for one lower front that’s slightly offset and turned but that’s no problem.
My nephew has already had braces and he’s only 11 years old, but I guess that’s what they do now and it supposedly helps forestall later problems.
Had braces through high school, mainly to correct gaps in my upper teeth (I apparently have a large jaw…). Got them off, and wore my retainer religiously for the first year or so of college, then completely stopped. The gaps have returned, although not as bad as before. It still annoys me enough every now and then to consider getting braces again.
I had braces for a few years, and I’d guess that it’s been approximately 8 years since they were removed. Mine was an unusual case in that for most of that time I actually had a fake tooth (one of the front ones) attached to the braces, and only to the braces. After the they came off I had to wear the top retainer all the time because the tooth was now attached to that. I think maybe I was supposed to wear the lower one at night.
I finally got a permanent implant about 4 years ago, so I no longer needed the retainer to have a tooth, of course. I was told I should still wear it overnight (the tooth was removed from it, obviously), and I occasionally did for a while, but it’s gotten to the point now where I haven’t worn it at all in a couple years, nor have I worn the lower one in a long time. My upper teeth seem fine; the lower teeth have one kind of crookedness… it’s like the left and right halves are misaligned, so the two center teeth don’t line up with each other perfecty.
I had braces for a couple of years. I think I got them when I was 11. My orthodontist was senile. I wore my retainer for a while, and then stopped. I’ve had some pretty noticeable shifting over the last 10 years or so. (I’m 33 now.)
I can’t get braces again since my senile orthodontist wrecked my teeth. I have no roots in my top front four teeth, and the bottom six front are very short. The dentists predicted I would lose them by 18, but I still have every last one. Yay me. Too bad I HATE the look of my teeth. Always have. Also too bad that implants to replace them are going to cost me around what a good economy car costs these days. Bleh.
I had braces when I was 16 - my teeth were a mess. They were positioned so that if you looked at me from the side, it looked like I was missing a front tooth. Sheesh.
When I first went in, and the orthodontist took a look at what we were up against, he originally had said that I needed four teeth knocked out and I would have to wear headgear, had to have my jaw broken, etc. :eek: However, for whatever reason, none of that took place. He just slapped some braces on, no teeth were pulled, my jaw remained intact, no headgear. Okay. I wore them for only ten months, and he decided that they were coming along excellently, and he removed them. He gave me a retainer that I was supposed to wear all the time, unless I was eating. Then I only had to wear it at night, then only once a week. Then he gave me a new retainer with a little extra wire do-hickey in it that was supposed to keep one of my front rogue teeth from squirming back into crooked position. He never ever told me how long I was supposed to wear it, and I aven’t been in to see him for, oh… six or seven years, now.
I wear my retainer very, very rarely now, but I find my teeth are still actually kind of crooked - they never stayed in place. I pop the retainer back in whenever I think they’re getting too crooked-looking, and it usually knocks them back into place (as best as they can be, as I said, they were never fully straightened, really)and they stay that way for months. Incidentally, I just now took my retainer out.
The orthodontist never gave me this information, this next bit of info I was given by my nutritionist, of all people. She was wearing a retainer when I went to see her, and she had just her braces recently removed. When I told her I wore a retainer sometimes, she recommended I wear it more often, because (her words, no cite, never looked it up for myself, nor did I heed her advice - I hate that retainer!) teeth have “memory”, and will slowly move back into their old position. I don’t know how true that is, and probably differs for most people, but yes, I do find my teeth, very slowly, try to move back into their crooked default. So, grudgingly, every six months or so, or whenever I feel they look too crooked, I slap the old retainer back on. I will probably continue doing this until I die or get dentures. 
Or, perhaps go to a reputable orthodontist who can maybe tell me more, or actually be able to straighten my teeth* for real * this time.
I had braces for about 4 years. The orthodontist did not want to pull a tooth, which would have been standard procedure for one of my problems, and so he used some specialized plate thing. Among other problems was that a canine had to be partially rotated. (I think the guy actually lost money on me, as it took longer than he thought but it was not because I was a bad patient. Just a slow process.) Got them off about 5 years ago. I no longer wear the retainer, though the orthodonist suggested that I wear them whenever I remembered to for the rest of my life. I’m not even sure what happened to the retainer now anyway, there’s a decent chance it got tossed in one of several moves. My teeth have gone a little crooked but not much and not nearly as bad as they used to be. The bottom incisors aren’t quite in a straight line and I’ve developed a slight gap between my front two incisors that make me look a bit like a fat David Letterman, but it’s all close enough for my tastes.
Don’t know what the opposite sex thinks, as unfortunately I haven’t had a woman consistently near enough my mouth to give me any feedback.
Anyway, go ahead and at least wear the retainer when you go to bed. If you don’t, be ready to decide what you are willing to live with in terms of your teeh.