how long do braces usually stay on after teeth are straight?

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#1 Post by **brace ventura** » Sat Feb 09, 2008 4:12 pm

hello friends!
just wondering if there's a "typical" length of time to keep the braces on after all the teeth are in their final positions. i forgot to ask this at my last appointment and don't see the ortho again for another month.
thanks for any info!

Sat Feb 09, 2008 5:04 pm

I believe it is 2-3 months.
- mariah

#3 Post by **jennielee81** » Sat Feb 09, 2008 5:31 pm

mariahfromchicago wrote:I believe it is 2-3 months.
- mariah

Nope! Sorry Mariah...but...

I had a little movement adjustment done 3 weeks before my debonding. I had a bend put into a wire and had to wear my elastics for a little more ovebite reduction to the very end.

In my experience (3 kids and me = 4!) braces are taken off as soon as the result is achieved....retainers can hold it all together for the next year.

I'm sure all treatments are differnet, but for those treatments that I've paid for and those on here that I've read about (and thankfully not paid for) it looks like the setteling is handled with retention.

Sat Feb 09, 2008 8:20 pm

Oh...
Thanks for the correct answer, jennielee81!

YouTube · #5 Post by **retainerjoe** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 5:22 am

for me it was about a month

Sun Feb 10, 2008 7:52 am

I guess it's different for everyone.
- mariah

#7 Post by **joney** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 8:39 am

I was under the impression that teeth are a bit like icebergs and that although they can look straight the hidden part under the gum may not be right. I therefore thought that the roots had to be worked on too and "settled" before the brace would come off although I'm not sure how long this process would take and would vary from case to case. Of course I may be completely wrong.

#8 Post by **jennielee81** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 2:03 pm

Wow, I was looking at "straight" meaning "finished".

I wonder what brace ventura ment???

Never saw the other possibility for the question. If it was as Meryaten has replied to, my teeth looked straight at 4 months. I had my braces on for 21 months.

I hope BV comes back to clear this question up.....

#9 Post by **brace ventura** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 2:29 pm

Hi everybody, thanks for the replies! When I said "straight" I basically meant "totally finished," or "in the final desired position." Sorry for the confusion. What I'm basically asking is this: once the final positioning (alignment, leveling, bite, roots, everything) has been achieved, is there usually a long period of holding everything in place to "set" the teeth, or is that mostly the retainer's job? And does the fact that I will have closed an open bite (something that I assume a retainer doesn't really help maintain) lengthen the post-positioning time period?

I assume each orthodontist evaluates each patient individually, so the responses will naturally vary. I was just trying to get a sense of what people have experienced.

#10 Post by **brace ventura** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 5:13 pm

My situation is a little tricky because I have a bilateral tongue thrust that creates a posterior open bite. I currently wear a retainer that has gates to prevent my tongue from interfering with my back teeth (and hopefully train it to behave as well), and my orthodontist indicated he'll probably want me to keep wearing it at night (at least) after the braces are removed. Here's a picture of the appliance if anyone is interested (he filled in the gate on the left side because it was irritating my tongue):
http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/9676/retainerno1.jpg