I never wore my retainers

[Mark1988]

Hi everyone, Im Mark and at 22 got my braces 2 days ago, for the second time in my life, so who feels really stupid now, got them at 12 and wore them till 15, I was pretty much made to wear them, my mum didn't discuss any of my treatment with me, but I know now she meant well for me, I Just hated braces from day 1, and could not wait till there final removal, so the thought of having retainers, that I was able to remove on my own, I Just knew what the outcome was going to be, I regret it so much now, and sitting here typing, with my new braces, and how much my mouth hurts right now,
So Just a stupid story for other people,out there, on how important retainers are, my friends think its pretty funny, but I Just feel, the silly one right now, I thought I knew better, so its a hard lesson for me, I never thought I would be in an orthodontist again, at least I know what to expect, and know my braces are going to adjust to my mouth in a few more days.
Oh and I am going to wear those retainers this time, any other you guys had the same experience, or Just me.

[Random]

My 2nd time with braces as well. I got them first when I was in grade 6 and got them off in 10 so that was 4 years gone, I could of gotten them off earlier but I was stubborn and never wore my elastics.

So anyways, 3 years after debracing day, I get them again(2 weeks ago, 19yo next month), not because I didn't wear my retainer, but my bottom jaw was growing faster than my top so it caused my bottom teeth to move in-front of my top teeth.

So now I got my bottom premolars extracted to move my lower incisors behind my top ones. Atleast you had a choice of wearing your retainer or not, I got b*tchslapped by nature

[Kipepeo]

I didn't really wear my retainers much either, but it took 30 years for me to consider braces again. My teeth stayed fairly straight, with a few rotating. Until one day, just one rotated enough to cause problems for the other arch.

It only takes one rogue tooth to set off a cascade of ortho issues!

[Roboto]

Same here. I wore braces for 4 years in middle and high school. Never wore my headgear, elastics.. shoot, it was lucky if I even brushed my teeth at night. So of course I didn't wear my retainers for very long. My overjet was ever actually fixed. 10 years later, at 24, I decided that I couldn't stand the overjet any longer (plus I had some crowding at the bottom), and went back in braces. Lesson learned. This is my $10,000 smile (counting the first 4 years). Not wearing my retainers (when the time comes) is not even an option.

Good luck, Mark!

[SuperSeven]

There was no mention of a retainer when I had braces as a teenager. Could explain why I'm now having 'round two' of treatment now.

[Kipepeo]

Ortho offices should display photos of teeth right after braces removal, and then some time later when they're crooked again for not wearing retainers.

[ultra]

Know what you mean...I never wore my retainer at the end of my Invisalign course and now my teeth are gradually moving back to their original position i.e. gaps. Wondering what to do next as it won't take much to get the gaps closed again, and was thinking about Myobrace. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?