Metal Mouth Message Board

I just recently got my braces removed and have a few questions. I have a bonded retainer which I got straight after I got my braces removed. A few days later I went back to see my orthodontist and I got a hawley retainer too. I got told that I had to wear it 24/7. My question is seeing as I have the fixed retainer, do I have to wear my other one 24/7? Will a few hours a day at school without it make much of a difference? Also he said that I have to wear it 24/7 for 6 months. Heaps of other people I have spoken to said they only had to for 6 weeks. Is he saying 6 months as a precaution and it could be possibly shorter? Also I gag a lot when I have my retainer in and it's hard to have it for an extended period of time. Is there anything I can do to help this or do I just have to wait till my body gets used to it? Thanks

Wear it as directed.
It is retaining and perhaps guiding your back teeth in their final positions.

I have a bonded retainer and hawley retainers, and I was told to wear my hawleys 24/7 for a year. The hawley retainer covers more teeth than my bonded retainer. The bonded one only goes from canine to canine.

I wish I could stop the 24/7 in six months!

I have been wearing retainers on the upper teeth. I could no longer remember when I started wearing this.

But this is a lot less painful than the braces. My only complain is that I can't taste very the food if I eat wearing retainers.

Imagine me wearing retainers on the upper teeth and still on braces on the lower teeth.

Whew! I have to put up with these till my ortho reappears.

God bless,