Length of Wearing Retainers?

[nico07]

I visited this site while I had braces, but it's funny, I'm only posting now for this very question.

I got my braces off a year ago and I still wear my retainer 24/7! Unless it's for a professional event, i.e. conference, presentation, or special gathering, I'm never without my retainer.

It works for me, but I never really minded it in the first place.

If you do this, you might eventually want to get a new one, be/c the other wears down after a while

[downhillsnowskier]

I wear Hawley retainers for 10 hours a day. Even during the day my teeth move, and I've found 10 hours is enough to keep them in check, but not too much time for the retainers to get too loose. I'm sure this is different for every person, I just do what trial and error has shown to me as effective. The ortho who originally treated me is long retired and I move around alot, so I am largely on my own on this.

[nvcarissa]

Does it matter if you wear your retainers during the day or night? I thought that as long as you wear them for the amount of hours that your ortho says then it doesn't matter if it's day or night. Has anyone been told why orthodontist say to wear them at bedtime instead of daytime?

It would seem to me that wearing your retainer at night would be better because at night you are sleeping with your face on a pillow, creating all kinds of pressure to your teeth that you wouldn't do during the day. So, it seems to me that if you are picking a time in a 24-hour span to wear them, night would be preferable. In addition, you are sleeping and not having to deal with talking, eating, etc.

[Granola]

I'll be one of those adults who wears my retainers for life (and that is what my two orthos recommend).

After I had braces for four years as a teen (age 12-16) I was told to wear my retainers for a period of time (I don't remember exactly how long I was told) and then I could stop wearing them. Back then (25 years ago) patients weren't typically told that retention would be for life. If only I had thought to keep wearing my retainers, I wouldn't be in braces again today.

I do not ever want to have to go through orthodontic treatment again after this second time around, so retainers are definitely in my future for life.

[lesliew]

I plan on wearing my clear retainers every night for the rest of my life. I invested a lot of money on my teeth these past couple of years to get the smile I always wanted, and I'm not going to ruin it now just because I don't want to be inconvienced by a retainer. My retainer feels tight when I pop it in at night, so I know it's doing some good.

[edinburger]

Interesting. As I had understood, if I go ahead with corrective jaw surgery in addition to my braces I wouldn't have to wear retainers for more than a few months because I will have a 'stable bite'...I will double-check this with my ortho next time I am there.

[tarheel89]

I am in a very similar situation as Granola described ...I was in braces for several years (expander, metal bands and brackets, etc., etc.) for years as a teen. Was told by my ortho back then to wear my retainer all day/night for a year, then only at night until age 18 (another 18 months or so). Because of a slowly relapsing crossbite that eventually became pretty darned problematic, I had to have braces put BACK on at age 36 and just got them off TODAY!

I will wear my retainers as directed, which right now means 24/7 (except of course for eating and dental hygiene time), but will include at least night-time wear for LIFE.

BUT -- my teeth look SO BEAUTIFUL today, newly naked, and I want to keep them that way. Even if my ortho said I could "get away with" not wearing it (which he most certainly has NOT said!), I wouldn't stop wearing it. I will be more than happy to wear the retainer at night-time forever if I can stay even relatively close to this outcome!!!