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Did you wear braces as a kid? Do you wear a retainer now?

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Nope. Don't wish I did, but my right, lower canine is jagged and out of alignment with the rest of my teeth, so maybe I should have.
 
i have no idea where my retainer is. my teeth have shifted slightly but they're so much better now than when i was younger.

braces - six years
retainer - two years
 
I was supposed to, but I haven't worn it for probably ten years now. I had braces for many years, headgear and all. Although, I did have a fiberotomy, so that may have something to do with the lack of shifting with my teeth.
 
Had braces for two years. Wore a retainer daily for a while, then nightly, and now about once a week 10 years later. Yup I still wear it. It is still tight when I put it in each week so i'm scared to leave it out too long. If I ever loose it I doubt i'll replace it due to the cost, but so long as I can find it, i'll keep wearing it.
 
I vote for "Had braces, wore retainer for awhile, stopped when instructed to do so", or, at least I will when that is added to the poll.

Wore braces as a child/pre-teen (twice)
Wore retainer for prescribed period (about 1-2 years each, I believe)
No longer wear retainers (It has been >25 years).

I do not think everyone has to wear retainers forever.

MotionMan
 
I'm 19 and have InvisAlign. I've had them since last June and only have to keep them on for about 1.5 years. So this is my last year with them on. Dentists said I didn't need them as my teeth are straight, but I couldn't stand the spaces. I was honestly able to stick my tongue through a bunch of spaces sideways which obviously isn't good.

I'll check tomorrow at my appointment to see if I have to wear a retainer or not.

I vote for "Have them on now, might have to wear a retainer or not when done with them."
 
Originally posted by: legoman666
I had braces for 3 years (I think); 7th grade to 10th grade. Straightened my teeth out nice and good. After the braces were removed, they gave me a retainer to wear for 4-5 years (lol?). I think I wore it for 3-4 months and never wore it again. I'm 20 now and still have the little metal bar on my bottom teeth in the front. I would like to get that removed because I'm tired of food getting stuck in it. My teeth are still perfect.
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It changes I assure you. The teeth do move. I went 6 months with retainers and I lost them for a period before putting them back on. They change in a month. I went diligently for 3 -4 years with it and then I lost it for another 3 months. Put it back in, and the change was very little.
 
I had so much crap done in my mouth it's almost funny. I wish my parents hadn't felt obliged to do it all, though...

1. When I was about 8, my 6-year-old molar on one side hadn't grown in yet so they did oral surgery to help it. Basically they cut a big hole in my gumline right over the tooth.

2. There are little pieces of flesh that run between your gums and inner lips; one of mine was attached too high up on the gumline so it was pulling the gums away down from my teeth. I had oral surgery (again...) to cut that off. Then they sliced a chunk of flesh from the top of my mouth and stitched it on my gums to reinforce them where they had been pulled away. I was maybe 12 at this time.

3. I had braces with an expander device on top (I was 17, now, much later than normal for that sort of thing. My teeth are slow.) It successfully pulled my palette apart and I can still feed the ridge down the middle. I couldn't talk right for months with that thing and this is my senior year in high school.

4. Because of a genetic condition, I am missing seven adult teeth: one molar, both upper bicuspids, and all my wisdom teeth (one good thing, anyway). So, they yanked my upper, baby bicuspids and I wore a retainer with fake teeth for a while.

5. When number 4 healed I got titanium implants done. The guy chopped back the gums, drilled in with a power drill, and screwed in a titanium screw as a base. Then he closed up the gums, sutured, and cauterized. By the last two, the painkiller had worn off and it didn't feel very nice. I continued to wear the upper retainer complete with fake teeth. Finally, after everything had healed up, they put in some teeth! All done!

Of course, then I had to get a bite splint because apparently I'm destroying my teeth by grinding them when I sleep...
 
I got braces the summer before 7th grade (I was 13) and had them taken off during my freshman year of high school (I was 15). I wore kept my retainers in my mouth for the next two years, taking them out only to eat and brush my teeth. After I turned 17 I stopped wearing them during the day and only put them in at night. I'll be 20 in two months and I still wear them pretty much every night. Everyone compliments me on my beautiful teeth.
 
Had braces for about 4 years and I wear a retainer now. I've had so much done to my mouth that it's not even funny.

- Had 9 baby teeth removed
- Had braces on the bottom and not the top because of an irregular growth of my jaw
- Had a palate expander to correct bite issues
- Got braces on the top finally
- Had a baby tooth and a cyst removed, then had the underlying tooth pulled down by a small chain which was attached to my braces
- Had all 4 wisdom teeth removed
- Was told that I have a severe underbite and that I should get surgery to correct this

I've probably experienced more, but that's all I can think of right now.
 
I had braces TWICE, and my teeth are still fscked up due to my stupidity as a kid. I should have listened to my parents and wore my friggen retainer.
 
I had braces for a long time as a kid. I wore my retainer for about a year, then stopped wearing it. My bottom front teeth have shifted slightly and there is a small gap in my upper teeth. Sure beats wearing a retainer for the rest of my life.
 
by stopping prematurely, I mean like I might as well have not put it on.... :evil: worn it. hmm wait they both got it ringin lol
...

but yea, maybe like barely 2 months into having retainers that I basically stopped. Oh occasionally I remembered and wore them, lol. But I definitely stopped altogether about 6 months after getting my retainers.
 
I had braces and retainers in my mouth from 3rd grade all the way till I was a junior in high school. I got made fun of and everything... now i've been told that some regret that.
 
Where is the option of having braces and wore the retainer until it was no longer needed? I wore mine until I had my wisdom teeth removed. After that it just did not make sense to.
 
Originally posted by: nightowl
Where is the option of having braces and wore the retainer until it was no longer needed? I wore mine until I had my wisdom teeth removed. After that it just did not make sense to.
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Hmm, good point, I got my wisdom teeth out as well, plus some molars, so my retainers are completely wrong now. Never thought about that.

Originally posted by: effowe
I wore braces back in middle school and started wearing my retainer. I as well didn't keep it in for the recommended amount of time, so there is one crooked tooth along the bottom row, right in front, that sits about a millimeter across the tooth next to it. Other than that everything has been the same.
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Yeah pretty much same as me exactly.
 
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