I guess I should count myself lucky...

[cheggers]

I had my braces on for approximately 24 months - the top brace came off about 10 days ago, and the lower one came off this week.

I got a permanent wire behind my lower teeth, which is really no problem at all. It's much thinner and less obtrusive than I imagined it would be. Even after just a couple of days I really have forgotten about it and it's causing me no problems at all.

On top, I had the luxury of walking around completely brace- and retainer-free for a week before I went back to get my Essix retainer. It's really a very mixed bag of good and not-so-good news:
1) Good news - even from close up, it's almost impossible to see that I have anything on my teeth, so from the aesthetic side this is great.
2) Bad news - I have to wear it 24/7 and talking with it in really is VERY difficult indeed, and I feel far more self-conscious now with my ridiculous speech impediment than I ever felt about my appearance with braces.
3) Good news - My speech is improving ever so slightly - it's now gone from "totally incomprehensible" to merely "utterly ridiculous".
4) Best news of all - I only have to wear it 24/7 for TWO WEEKS! And then it will be just at nights.

I have to say I pity anyone who has to cope with these things 24/7 for months on end - I'll somehow get through these next 10 days or so and then I'm home and dry.
Actually I'm really surprised that the 24/7 period is so short - anyone else out there in a similar position? From what I've read, most of you seem to be going through much more extensive retainer regimes.

EDIT: I should probably also say that the 24/7 regime excludes eating and brushing; and I'll put up my hand and admit that I do spit the thing out if I need to make a phone call or something like that. It's just impossible otherwise. But I think it's in for about 22 hours per day in total, so I hope this is within acceptable limits.

[jcdamon3]

I am "supposed" to wear mine 24/7 but haven't done it. If I am lucky I wear them about 16 hours a day. Reasons for not wearing them 24/7: 1) I just get plain tired of them 2) eat something and forget to put them back in 3) want to go out and socialize and don't feel like dealing with them. 4) forget them at home when I leave in the morning.

Having said that I don't think wearing them 16 hours a day has been a problem. Unfortunately when I went back to see the ortho after 4 weeks my lower bonded retainer was not working well enough and my bottom teeth moved back. He is now trying to straighten them with an essix retainer. It is sort of working but not too sure. He may have to try something else.

When I went back after 4 weeks I told him I wasn't wearing the top one 24/7 and he wasn't too concerned. The reality is that if you retainer is really tight after not wearing it for a certain length of time, then you should probably wear it more. After almost 8 weeks I can tell you that my top retainer fits pretty good even after going most of the day without it. I am probably going to be okay for night time only wear pretty soon. Since I have to wear the lower retainer all the time now, I figure what the heck I will throw the top one on too. Sometimes I wear the lower and not the upper.

[belmikry]

same- my bottom permenant retainer feels smooth and i forget it's there- but this darn top one- man- how hard is it to talk? worse part is I was on drive thru at work today- can you imagine trying to a] talk and b] on a speakerbox? oi...

I know i'm wearing it for months too- hopefully it wont be too long- i'm trying to keep it on- it gets kinda sore though