How long did you wear your retainer for after braces?

[ISAslot]

Top one, maybe a year. Bottom one (perm) ~14 yrs.

 

[BlancoNino]

I got my braces off when I was 17, and wore my retainer all the time for an entire year. Then I wore it at night for about 4 months until it broke. I never bothered to replace it. My teeth haven't moved at all in the past 4 years.

 

[Mikey]

Originally posted by: moshquerade

Originally posted by: Mikey
I've had braces before, but even with retainers, my teeth still shifted, so Im getting braces again. My doc tells me that I'll have to have em again for 14-16 months, so that's not that bad.

were they removeable retainers? this time go for lingually bonded retainers.

No, actually, I still have permanent retainers on. It's just that my first orthodontist removed my braces almost 2 years too early, but as I grew up in high school, my jaw shifted a little bit. It only takes about 6 months to get my teeth straightened again, but it takes double the time to align my upper jaw 2-3 millimeters in front of my lower jaw. It actually looks perfectly fine and normal, but my doc tells me that it will continue to shift if I don't get this procedure taken cared of.

 

[Brainonska511]

Originally posted by: moshquerade

Originally posted by: Brainonska511
About a year of wearing it all the time. Then about 2 years of wearing it at night. Eventually, I just stopped bothering, but technically, I'm still supposed to wear it (even though it no longer fits, 2 years after I stopped wearing it at all).

it doesn't fit cause your teeth have moved.

I realize that, but they have not moved that much. Just enough that the retainer will no longer fit properly.

 

[RichardE]

I never had to wear braces but always get asked if I did because my teeth are perfect/white pearls

 

[Whisper]

Had one that was actually cemented behind my bottom front teeth; sadly, it came loose after a few months. My teeth shifted around quite a bit after that, essentially negating the effects of the braces. Awesomeness.

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

I wore mine for almost five years before it finally broke. Then I gave up. My teeth eventually worked their way back. Thankfully it was just my bottom teeth and my uppers stayed put. (No snaggle toothed smile)

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Several years so far, every night.

 

[Skunkwourk]

its been about 8 years, I still wear them every night.

 

[BlancoNino]

Wow, lots of mixed responses. Must depend on the teeth. I think it's important that you get your gums slit so that they grow new fibers. I know some people who didn't get that done and their teeth moved a little.

My bottom retainer is cemented in and has stayed put. No movement there. My top retainer I haven't worn for at least 3 years. No movement there, either.

 

[Lola]

I wore my braces for 1.5 years then my retainer for another year after that and then stopped. I wish i would have kept doing it because i know my teeth have shifted since then.

 

[Al Neri]

i had pretty bad teeth before i wore braces from 10-12 for about 2 years.

I was supposed to wear the retainer all the time except when I was eating.

I wore the retainer one night, just ONE night the day I got it, never wore it again.

every subsequent checkup for about the next 4 years, the orthodontist said that I was making excellent progress? first after about a year he told me that I can stop wearing it during they day and only at night...

by the time I was close to 16 they said they didn?t need to see me again unless I had a problem, and didn?t really specify if I had to wear the retainer?

I?m 24 now and my teeth look great.

 

[moshquerade]

Originally posted by: BlancoNino
Wow, lots of mixed responses. Must depend on the teeth. I think it's important that you get your gums slit so that they grow new fibers. I know some people who didn't get that done and their teeth moved a little.

My bottom retainer is cemented in and has stayed put. No movement there. My top retainer I haven't worn for at least 3 years. No movement there, either.

what is this "gums slit" thing you speak of?

 

[meltdown75]

what's the oldest you can still get braces at? is there a maximum age?

 

[Al Neri]

Originally posted by: meltdown75
what's the oldest you can still get braces at? is there a maximum age?

42

 

[Riverhound777]

Originally posted by: Don Rodriguez
i had pretty bad teeth before i wore braces from 10-12 for about 2 years.

I was supposed to wear the retainer all the time except when I was eating.

I wore the retainer one night, just ONE night the day I got it, never wore it again.

every subsequent checkup for about the next 4 years, the orthodontist said that I was making excellent progress? first after about a year he told me that I can stop wearing it during they day and only at night...

by the time I was close to 16 they said they didn?t need to see me again unless I had a problem, and didn?t really specify if I had to wear the retainer?

I?m 24 now and my teeth look great.

It really depends on the person. I'm afraid to not wear my retainer since it sucked so bad having braces, I never want to do it again. I'm not really sure how long it would take for my teeth to move. When I wait a day, my retainer is tight. When I wait a week, it is about the same, but it still fits at least.

I have a friend like you, he never wears his retainer. He says he found it once and tried it on, and it still fit like the day he got it. Others aren't so lucky.

 

[meltdown75]

Originally posted by: Don Rodriguez

Originally posted by: meltdown75
what's the oldest you can still get braces at? is there a maximum age?

42

niiiice

 

[SparkyJJO]

My retainer is a thin wire glued to the back of my teeth. I don't have to mess with it. Been there since I got my braces off, which was.... I can't remember, but several years ago.

 

[BlancoNino]

Originally posted by: moshquerade

Originally posted by: BlancoNino
Wow, lots of mixed responses. Must depend on the teeth. I think it's important that you get your gums slit so that they grow new fibers. I know some people who didn't get that done and their teeth moved a little.

My bottom retainer is cemented in and has stayed put. No movement there. My top retainer I haven't worn for at least 3 years. No movement there, either.

what is this "gums slit" thing you speak of?

After my braces came off, my orthodontist sent me to my dentist to have him make a small slit in my gums inbetween every one of my teeth. This destroys the fibers in the gums so that when they regrow, they are comformed to your new teeth so that they aren't pushing them to go back. Something like that.

 

[moshquerade]

Originally posted by: BlancoNino

Originally posted by: moshquerade

Originally posted by: BlancoNino
Wow, lots of mixed responses. Must depend on the teeth. I think it's important that you get your gums slit so that they grow new fibers. I know some people who didn't get that done and their teeth moved a little.

My bottom retainer is cemented in and has stayed put. No movement there. My top retainer I haven't worn for at least 3 years. No movement there, either.

what is this "gums slit" thing you speak of?

After my braces came off, my orthodontist sent me to my dentist to have him make a small slit in my gums inbetween every one of my teeth. This destroys the fibers in the gums so that when they regrow, they are comformed to your new teeth so that they aren't pushing them to go back. Something like that.

this is nothing i have ever heard of. are you sure you didn't just get some enamel shaved in between to make more room?

 

[Scarpozzi]

I wore mine for about a year after the braces came off. I only wore my braces for like 11 months. I had straight teeth with an overbite.... The orthodontist cranked my braces down extremely tight, so it only took a few adjustments to get them back where they needed to be. I remember just about blacking out when he tightened them up the first time....lots of yogurt.

 

[PeeluckyDuckee]

I still have my bottom wires at the front. The molars might become an issue though as I have them laying flat at the bottom and they are ever so slowly starting the move year by year. The top teeth remained unchanged mostly, except the two front teeth which has angled out a bit, but overall very stable. Wore my retainers about 5mnths after I had the braces removed, then got lazy one day and after awhile when I tried them back on they no longer fit.

 

[aloser]

Originally posted by: moshquerade

Originally posted by: BlancoNino

Originally posted by: moshquerade

Originally posted by: BlancoNino
Wow, lots of mixed responses. Must depend on the teeth. I think it's important that you get your gums slit so that they grow new fibers. I know some people who didn't get that done and their teeth moved a little.

My bottom retainer is cemented in and has stayed put. No movement there. My top retainer I haven't worn for at least 3 years. No movement there, either.

what is this "gums slit" thing you speak of?

After my braces came off, my orthodontist sent me to my dentist to have him make a small slit in my gums inbetween every one of my teeth. This destroys the fibers in the gums so that when they regrow, they are comformed to your new teeth so that they aren't pushing them to go back. Something like that.

this is nothing i have ever heard of. are you sure you didn't just get some enamel shaved in between to make more room?

Sounds (at least similar) to what I had; I essentially had braces twice, in the sense of when they were first put on they worked "too quickly" and my gums basically grew around my braces. So my dentist pulled my braces off, trimmed my gumline back to a more reasonable level, put the braces back on and everything was fine after that.

 

[drinkmorejava]

I had it full time for 6 months, otherwise it has been about 4 years and I still wear it most nights. They recommend now to keep it around forever.

 

[moshquerade]

Originally posted by: aloser

Originally posted by: moshquerade

Originally posted by: BlancoNino

Originally posted by: moshquerade

Originally posted by: BlancoNino
Wow, lots of mixed responses. Must depend on the teeth. I think it's important that you get your gums slit so that they grow new fibers. I know some people who didn't get that done and their teeth moved a little.

My bottom retainer is cemented in and has stayed put. No movement there. My top retainer I haven't worn for at least 3 years. No movement there, either.

what is this "gums slit" thing you speak of?

After my braces came off, my orthodontist sent me to my dentist to have him make a small slit in my gums inbetween every one of my teeth. This destroys the fibers in the gums so that when they regrow, they are comformed to your new teeth so that they aren't pushing them to go back. Something like that.

this is nothing i have ever heard of. are you sure you didn't just get some enamel shaved in between to make more room?

Sounds (at least similar) to what I had; I essentially had braces twice, in the sense of when they were first put on they worked "too quickly" and my gums basically grew around my braces. So my dentist pulled my braces off, trimmed my gumline back to a more reasonable level, put the braces back on and everything was fine after that.

oh, so it was tissue overgrowth and you had gingivectomy. i see. a lot of times the overgrowth is caused by poor oral hygiene or medication. (not saying that's the case here)