Metal Mouth Message Board

my ortho surprised me today w/ this fact about my retainers... since they corrected a very deep overbite, they gave me hawleys so i can't fully bite down - and i have to wear these 24/7 for 6 months! i don't think i have seen too many people like that. here are some pics so you know what i mean:


you can see where they built up extra acrylic in the front


angle from the inside


I think here you can really see what I mean.

My back teeth dont touch at all!! And all that extra acrylic on the top retainer is making it realllly tough to talk. And you can see when I smile. It's so weird. Does anyone else have a retainer like this??

I had a retainer just like that before i got my fixed braces, but just with springs to move back two teeth. The ortho was also trying to correct a massive overbite. Which he did!

It took me around 2 weeks to get completely used to it - the speech slurring was my greatest problem, but after two weeks of continual wear, i spoke almost normally. The face that the back teeth didn't meet was so strange, but i did get used to it in the end. Apparently it's to encourage the molars to extend up a little bit so that by the end, your bite will meet a little earlier (or at least, that was in my case). I didn't notice any change while the retainer was in, but after two months i could feel the difference when i took it out to brush. Do you keep it in while eating?

Heh, after 9 months of wearing it, I'd almost ground through that extra acrylic with my bottom teeth. I found keeping well hydrated was important (just like for braces) but more so because of that darned bite plate thing, otherwise I'd sound like Shelley from South Park. You'll soon get used to it!

Oh, and fantastic teeth btw!!

Since the acrylic is just in the front and your molars don't touch, I would think this retainer would EXTRUDE your back molars. Is that what he is trying to accomplish? Then that would open your front bite at the same time.

What is your bite like WITHOUT the retainers?

I don't think he's trying to do anything but prevent my bite from relapsing. Before I got braces my front teeth completely coverd my bottom teeth! Right now this is what it looks like without the retainers in and with my mouth closed and back teeth touching.

If any ORTHOS are reading this post...would this type of retainer EXTRUDE the molars and any teeth that do not have the higher acrylic on them?

I had a deep bite myself before braces and its much better but the back teeth are not touching.

I have same kind of upper retainer. I have lower braces, and I will get uppers after I dont knock lower brackets off. My retainer prevents that.
It is very annoying, and I only wear it at nights.

Your deepbite seemed to go away nicely! How long it took?

I had a complete overbite and my hawley is a bit different, however, the roof plate on mine does drop down and cover most of the back of my upper teeth. Maybe all hawley's do what mine does, but I don't know. It does not prevent me from clenching my teeth.

What bottom retainer do you have--just a bonded one?

I had my braces for 2 1/2 years.

My bottom retainer is a regular hawley as well:


I'm so glad I don't have a permanent retainer. Although I do have to wear this every night forever.

Yes, I had super thick ones too...

The first upper I had lasted 3 months and collapsed so the next was a lot thicker and further back in my mouth - It really was a challenge learning to speak. I went to a speech therapist friend for a few weeks to get it sorted out.

My lower was just as thick and went to the back molars

There was very little room for my tongue - and at night I tended to drool when I slept!

I kept waking up with a wet cheek!

I had one of those when I was a child, I now how they feel and how difficult it is speaking with that! I'm not sure if I would manage to wear it all the day!

I wore it for 2 yeas, but then I stopped and my deep bite came back! now I'm in braces again

I hope it will get better!