How many wear a Retainer at night?

[fustercluck]

I wore braces for about a year 1/2, got them off 3 or 4 years ago and i've been wearing my Retainer at night ever since. My orthodontist wants me to wear my retainer every night...for the rest of my LIFE. It's kind of annoying. Gotta clean it often or it stinks and it's safe to say it's always covered in germs. Keeps my teeth lined up anyways. Gives me canker sores more often though i think.

I feel like I'm in the minority, wearing a retainer every night. Probably not as uncommon as i think though, right? I'm curious to find out.

 

[BrownTown]

Nope, parents wanted me to get braces and I told them hell no. Its not even like my teeth are crooked or anything, I don't know why everyones so big on braces a nd stuff, when do you honestly notice someone having a slight overbite or a slightly missalighed tooth.

 

[PottedMeat]

I wore braces for ~2 1/2 years ( i think ) about 9 years ago and was supposed to wear a retainer every day. After I got the braces off I wore the retainer maybe once - and my teeth look and feel the same. I wouldn't bother - you're probably never going to see that orthodontist again.

 

[erub]

I wear my retainer most of the nights..if I'm sleepin alone, I don't see a big deal

never when travelling or with "company"..guy told me to try to wear 3-4 nights

 

[tfinch2]

I wore my retainer every night for about 6 years after I got my braces off. I recently stopped a few months ago, and I can slip the retainer off and on with ease. I don't need it anymore.

 

[moshquerade]

if you brush/floss well before bed there shouldn't be much of anything to get on your retainer and make it "stink".

also, if it is giving you canker sores it must be scraping on your tissue. locate the area and tell your dentist so he can adjust it accordingly.

lastly, just wear it if you want your teeth to stay straight. it's not that bad.
if you don't wear it your teeth will move and in time your retainer won't fit.

 

[Savij]

According to my dentist you should make sure to wear it every night for the first year or two since your teeth are mostly likely to move then. After that (in my case it was as i was at the end of possible growth spurts so thtat might be a factor), you can slow reduce to once or twice a month and be ok. You should try to continue to wear them since people's teeth tend to spread with age and the retainer can fight that.

 

[aloser]

I used to - before I lost it

 

[mb]

I wish I wore mine

 

[slightlyhuman]

i haven't worn mine in 3 years and i have an AWESOME set of teeth.

 

[amdskip]

I got my braces off at least 3+ years ago and still wear it 4-5 nights a week.

 

[UncleWai]

I wore the first year after I get my braces out. Ever since I haven't wore them (6+years) and my teeth are still straight.

I took out 7 teeths counting my wisdom teeth, so they are not really overcrowded anymore.

 

[fustercluck]

I guess it's just different for some people. I went a few days without wearing them not long ago, then after i wore them the next night, i woke up with a slightly sore jaw/teeth. So it obviously does something for me, it's just a big annoyance. Guess i'll stick with it though.

 

[OrganizedChaos]

my dental saga has gone like this.
dentist:
2 teeth pulled.

Orthadontist:
braces installed.
refused to wear elastics, hurt to much.
had springs installed, these things suck to get tightened once a month but there 0 mantiance on my part and i liked them better than elastics.
braces removed given a retainer.
wore retainer for a month got sick of that thing

dentist: oh yeah your wisdom teeth are comin in and you need to go to a oral surgeon

oral sugeon:
lets take some x-rays
congrats you've got not four but six wisdom teeth and they've all got to come out.
plan is to pull them all at once
pulls first tooth

my heart: omgwtfbbq?!

oral surgeon:
wakes me up and sends me off to the ER to see if i'm dying

ER: heres an EKG, and it says your not dying, congrats! but go get checked out by a cardiologist anyway.

cardioligist:
you'll be fine as long as an anasteologist watches you

oral sugeon + team at hospital: lets get the rest of those teeth.

me: i wake up with the last 5 of my 6 wisdom teeth removed. yay for me, and i've still never had a cavity.

and out of all of it the thing i hated the most was the retainer.

 

[datalink7]

Nope, just sunglasses.

 

[AbAbber2k]

I noticed my teeth got a little more crooked when I stopped wearing mine (you can only tell looking straight down on them as it's not that significant). Then I got my wisdom teeth removed and my teeth haven't moved since as far as I can tell (few years).

 

[KillerCharlie]

I've been wearing mine just over 4 years at night. Good grief you big baby, it's not that bad. Brush them quick with toothpaste before you put them in at night and rinse them when you take them out in the morning. It takes at MOST 1 minute a day. I easily do it in under 30 seconds. Covered in germs? Where do you think those germs came from.... your mouth. Wash it once a week if you need to. If you're too lazy to do it, then I guess you'll get whatever's coming. Seriously man, 30 seconds a day. THIRTY SECONDS.

(Yes, I know, I'm being an a**hole tonight ... but seriously, 30 seconds)

 

[slpaulson]

I wear it about once a week.

 

[FleshLight]

Wear it once every 2-3 days

 

[imported_hscorpio]

Keep wearing it.

I broke part of my bottom retainer and stopped wearing it because it poked my gums and I regret it now. I kept putting off going and getting it fixed and now my bottom teeth are getting a little tweaked but the tops are fine. I should probably look for it and see if they can still fix it so my bottoms dont move anymore.