Metal Mouth Message Board

I went to the ortho today for an adjustment. I got new powerchains on both the uppers and lowers, and I'm still on elastics. I have a space between my lower incisors that my ortho said is closing slower than he'd expected. Could my relapse have anything to do with this? Here's some background info:

I had braces as a teen (about 12 years ago) and was less than dilligent when it came to wearing my retainer. Needless to say I had quite a bit of relapse. I have braces again now, and a space that I have between my lower incisors won't seem to close. This space was there before I ever had braces, closed while I had braces the first time, re-opened after I didn't wear my retainers, and now it isn't really closing that much. Could the relapse have caused the problems with the closing of the space, or do my teeth just move slower now that I'm in my mid twenties? Thanks.

Teeth do get a bit harder to move as you get older. You may just have some stubborn teeth. I've got one lower incisor that took about 18 months to get into place!

I will talk to my ortho about this. I didn't want to mention it to him because, I never told him I had braces before this . I know, really bad. My teeth went back to way they were before I had braces, because I never wore my retainers from day 1. I didn't want to admit this to him, but I will now.

Interesting question. Let us know what you find out. Good luck!

I can relate to your not disclosing prior treatment. My lower teeth relapsed and when I decided to get it fixed, I didn't mention that my original ortho had recommended extracting six teeth when I had my recent consultations. None of the three orthos I consulted with this time around recommended extractions. I wanted my case evaluated based on the current situation and didn't want to bias their treatment plan by mentioning the recommendation for extractions made by an ortho 20 years ago.

laina wrote: Could the relapse have caused the problems with the closing of the space, or do my teeth just move slower now that I'm in my mid twenties? Thanks.

Hi laina,

No worries! Your past rebound doesn't have anything to do with your current treatment (other than having to have braces again )

I'll give you my opinion on retention:

Teeth move and shift throughout life...whether you had braces or not, extractions or not, or wisdom teeth removed or not...Lots of studies have been done, both retrospective and prospective and the bottom line is teeth are dynamic, they move.

What I tell my patients:

You have to "retain" the teeth for the first 4-6 months while the bone and soft tissues reorganize to the teeth's new locations. After that, part-time wear (nightly, or every other night) for another 4-6 months. After that, just wear them as much as you need to....wean yourself off them...once a week, once a month etc. Just try them in from time to time and if they are tight, or make your teeth sore overnite, then your teeth have moved so you need to wear them for a short while to realign your teeth.

You don't have to wear them for the rest of your life, but just keep up with them...the retainer you get at 13 will fit at 33 (43..etc)if you just try it in from time to time.

Thanks for the info Dr. Rick, sounds like I just have a stubborn tooth . I'm certainly going to keep up with my retainer wear after this round of braces.

Also, is it a big deal that I didn't disclose to my orthodontist that I'd had braces before? Could he already know from looking at my teeth, eventhough they went back to the way they were before having braces the first time? I still haven't told him, and I don't think I will unless it's necessary.

I called my ortho today, and he assures me the gap should close before my next appointment. I'm hoping he's right. I just had an adjustment the other day, and so far I haven't seen any improvement and my teeth haven't been sore at all. It's a decent size gap, and usually I feel it and see it get a wee bit smaller, but this time nothing. In the meantime, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he's right.