Permanent Retainer

[ChewyBacca]

Hi

My orthodontist has offered permanent wired retainers top and bottom for a modest £150 on top of my treatment. I am reluctant insofar as it seems like they'll be a Royal PITA especially having had braces for a year. Also, it would be in addition to a removable retainer that I need to wear every night.

What's the general consensus? Are permanent retainers really inconvenient for flossing etc? Also, are they uncomfortable?

Most importantly do they have a significant impact in terms of preventing relapse when compared to using removable retainers only?

Thanks in advance.

[oldfart]

On the bottom don't even know its there.. Takes me maybe 20 secs more to floss around it. For me, last time I had removable only, and did have relapse issues when i stopped wearing them after a year. Don't see that happening with the Permanent.

[ChewyBacca]

Cheers - I'll see how I get on, but permanent sounds like a good plan.

[NeilH]

If all goes to plan, I'm getting fixed and removable retainers (both Essix and Hawley) in a months time. I have been doing lots of research and the benefits of fixed retainers seem to outweigh the disadvantages. I'm sure they take a little bit of getting used to and more effort to floss around but if they keep everything in place, I can accept that. For an additional £150, it seems like a good idea.

[uncleezno]

If you're going permanent, consider doing the bottom only. I think the general consensus is they do the best job at preventing tooth movement but are harder to clean around. Some people have tons of cavities without ever dealing with braces and retainers, and some people don't. If you did a good job flossing with braces, you'll probably do fine with a permanent retainer. On the top, however, it can affect your speech, which is why most people do a removable one up there.

[jem]

I have a bonded upper retainer and speech has never been a problem, nor has flossing. It is really close to the back of my teeth and my tongue just feels a tiny bump on the back of each tooth. Nothing like I would imagine lingual braces to be.

I think one reason more people don't have upper bonded retainers is that if your bite is at all deep, the bottom incisors may touch it.

Jem

[Lucyinthesky]

I have a bonded and removable one for my top teeth. I found my speech a bit funny for the first few hours after the bonded one was fitted. I didn't get my removable one for 48 hours after getting my braces off but I like having the 'double' sort of back up.

[palmtrees]

I have them and I'm glad to keep them forever so I'll always be confident that I'll keep my teeth in this position. But I recognize the speech problems mentioned here. How much glue do you people have over the retainers? Mine seem to be significant amount, it's really made my bottom teeth much 'thicker' and sometimes I have some sort of lisp and I can feel my tongue bumping against it.

[oldfart]

Don't even realize its there half the time. Almost mostly because I always have a removable retainer over it. I don't seem to have too much glue covering mine.

[NeilH]

I have periods when I barely notice they are there and other times when my tongue acts like its possessed and constantly tries to rip the top one off. My upper Essix retainer is more of a peacekeeper keeping the two apart! Seriously, the fixed retainers do a great job and are very discreet, there are small bumps of glue and a small expanse of wire that I can feel with my tongue but generally, hardly notice they are there.

[Clarmik]

I personally hate my permanent retainer and have read stories about people whose teeth have shifted because they didn't notice that their permanent retainer had broke, so you should definitely look at it with a hand mirror every once in a while to make sure it's still in place.

[tooth4tooth]

Hey guys.
I'm new here. This is my first post, and I'm most likely not doing this correctly, but all I know is that I need help, and need it now.

I have a HAD a permanent fixed retainer now for 14 years which I know is within the proper life span of one. Tonight, I was trying to get something out of my teeth, and bam. The retainer fell out on one side.

From what I have been reading on this website s well as several others, is that people seem to experience it falling out entirely on both sides, or if it does fall out on only one, there's not much time in between it falling completely off.

I currently have crappy insurance (if any at all for that matter) and am generally worried on whether or not I need to find a dentist who may help me, or if there's a way to get it off the other side, or find out any other options I may have. I noticed a year or so ago that my teeth have moved since it was first cemented on there. Does this mean there's no point?
I hate how it has affects my teen, although I'm aware of what a blessing it has been.


Hope to hear back from ANYONE asap.


THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH

[sandiego88]

tooth4tooth

A new Hawley retainer will cost around $200 per arch or one of the clear ones is around $100 per arch (where I'm from). I would think the orthodontist that you go to would be able to either remove or re-glue it for you.