OMG Teeth Really Do Move (Even With Retainer) !!!

Message

#1 Post by **serendipity** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 3:25 pm

I'm abit disapointed to notice that my midline has shifted since being debanded

. It's not a drastic change but I didn't do anything to warrant it. I'm really particular about wearing my retainer and can confidently say I did (and still do) were it about 23.5 hours a day. I'm not sure why this has happened my teeth still fit in my retainer perfectly...

Will my teeth move back?? How did this happen exactly??

~serendipity

#2 Post by **Chris** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 3:29 pm

Welcome to the world of retention! Yes, mine have moved too, in particularly I'm getting a little rotation on a front lower tooth (not what I expected). I'll be going in for my second retainer check next week. We'll see what he does.

I even noticed that my bite in the back as opened up.

What happened to the "settling" that was suppose to take place I want to know!

What kind of retainer do you have? I've got the hawleys.
I wear mine 24/7 except to eat.

#3 Post by **serendipity** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 3:39 pm

Chris - Thanks for your speedy answer although it didn't lift my spirts any

I'm in Essix retainers which I love - yep same here I just take them out to eat and clean. I suspose I just presumed that teeth shifting was a result of NOT wearing your retainer. It doesn't exactly inspire you to keep up your strict retainer wear does it (although of course I will). I just don't understand when my teeth had the chance to shift exactly - they are living in that retainer....

~serendipity~ - [Alittle depressed and alot confused....]

#4 Post by **fins** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 9:06 am

Your teeth have a memory and want to return to the place they were before the braces! I think the retainer limits the movement but I bet there is some relapse for everyone, just different degrees of relapse. I know if my retainer is out all day it fits very snuggly when I put it in at night. Unbelievable that they are moving in just a few hours. I do think that as time goes on (many years) they tend to move less (based on my experience with being braced years ago). Instead of hours to move teeth, it takes years but they will ultimately move if you don't wear the retainers. I feel a little strange only wearing the retainers at night now that I know they move during the day so much.

#5 Post by **markuhde** » Tue May 01, 2007 10:53 am

You're teeth do NOT have a memory and do not "want" to move back where they were

Before you have braces, no matter how crooked your teeth are, the forces in your mouth are in equilibrium. Your teeth settle where forces all around them cancel out.

Braces add another force to move teeth and they do so.

One braces are removed, your teeth are no longer in a state of force eequilibrium and they never again will be as long as you keep wearing your retainers.

There is no want to move, no memory. Nothing so emotional. Just simple physics.

#6 Post by **markuhde** » Tue May 01, 2007 11:47 am

By the way, I disagree with your "equilibrium state" assertion. If this existed, then it would not be true that everyone's teeth have a tendency to move as we grow older.

Muscles change as we get older, tissue growth never stops, these factors change the forces on our teeth, thus the teeth constantly keep shifting to a place where they are in a state of force equilibrium and they balance out. Braces and retainers stop these natural forces from having an effect (or at least as great of one).

The moment you stop the braces or retainers the natural forces are allowed to take over until things balance out.

Muscles always change and they do get to where the natural position of the teeth (their state of force equilibrium) is closer to where the retainers are holding them. But never perfect.

So yeah, orthodontics is just the application of controled forces to overcome natural forces. When it's made emotional is when things get blown out of proportion. That's one thing I like about the ortho I'm going to, he'll just talk straight up about what he's doing and why he uses what he does - no hiding it with words like memory or anything. At the inital consult we talked for a good 10 minutes about the difference in coefficient of friction between bracket types (Damon vs traditional). This willingness to talk about the science, not the emotion is what led me to trust his choices...

I GET MY BRACES TMW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

#7 Post by **markuhde** » Tue May 01, 2007 11:55 am

At any moment in time there is an equilibrium state the teeth are always trying to achieve. This equilibrium state changes as we get older. I'm not talking over a period of time. I'm talking an instantaneous snapshot.

I added some stuff to my post too...

And surgery is a whole different ballgame. No longer is it a case of simple force and friction. You're adding or removing elements from the system plus dealing with the human body's healing and repairative mechanisms (though this is the case in simple orthodontics as well, not to nearly the extent)

#8 Post by **markuhde** » Tue May 01, 2007 12:07 pm

Sorry, I wasn't trying to. Yeah, there's things I don't totally understand because I'm NOT an orthodontist. I just know teeth don't have feelings memory and emotions. Orthodontics is a game of physics, not psychology.

#9 Post by **bracesmom** » Tue May 01, 2007 12:12 pm

I have 2 weeks and 1 day until my braces are off and thought I'd pop over here. My teeth moving are my worse fear too. To the OP, I'm sorry about the trouble you've had.