Metal Mouth Message Board

Please can anyone wearing bonded retainers help me? I almost finished my invisalign treatment and I'm about to have BOTH upper and lower bonded retainers (my ortho says they're much more reliable than removable ones) and I'm afraid I'll have lisping problems. As my job involves a lot of talking I'm rather worried.
Also, do they hurt your tongue a lot, is it very different from feeling your teeth??? Thanks for any helpful information.

hi poppy
when i had my bonded retainers, they didn't effect my speech at all. but they always hurt my tongue. that is the only thing i have against them.

Hi Thanks for your answer. How long did you wear them? Were they very visible (I mean, for other people)?

Bonded retainers are not visible, as they are bonded on the lingual side of your teeth (ie behind). As far as I know, I'll have mine as long as I have teeth in my mouth! I haven't had any speech problems, and I hardly notice it's there anymore.

Good luck!

i only had my retainer for 3 months because i had to get braces again. but i always had sores on my tongue and it was annoying. i play the flute so im sure that was a part of it.

I've got a hawley on top and a bonded on the bottom. Compared to the hawley, the bonded is quite comfortable for me and doesn't cause any speech problems or irritation. It's the upper hawley that's the trouble for me.

Guess I am the only one who HAS had speech probs with the bonded retainer. I JUSt got an upper 3-3 (front SIX teeth) bonded retainer 2 almost two days ago and am having a hard time with 's'. lol Just like any retainer though, I should get used to it as time goes on...just sucks right now. He placed my closer to the gumline then he does for other patients so I could have an easier time cleaning it, so I am wondering if that has something to do with it.

I had my lower braces off maybe last month, & got a bonded retainer. For the first few days it irritated my tongue - I couldn't resist playing with it, but it was like playing with sandpaper because the glue they use to fix it to your teeth is not entirely smooth. After a week, though, it was fine. And I never had speech trouble with it, although I have had speech trouble both before and during my braces treatment. Hope that helps!