Metal Mouth Message Board

is there so much conflicting information about eating and/or drinking with retainers in? I have seen some people advised to wear retainers 24/7 even while eating and drinking, and then caution about not eating with them in because they can break.

I don't eat with mine, never have. My ortho didn't recommend nor ask me to, but I was told it was fine to drink with it. What were you told?

The reason is beacuse the only thing 2 dentists will agree on is that the 3rd dentist is wrong

I wasn't told anything about eating and drinking with retainer in, therefore I don't have any problem drinking while having it on and I clean/rinse the teeth & retainer when I finish (if it's smth else than water) but for eating I take it off, I don't think I could bite/chew very well.

I have no idea how one would eat with retainers in. Haha, it seems impossible. I do drink water with mine in, though. I wouldn't drink anything other than water just because I wouldn't want to stain them. I do rinse and brush them a lot, so they probably wouldn't stain. It just seems gross to me to drink something other than water with them in.

LOL! Well I called my ortho's office to ask them whether it was okay to drink things with my retainer in, specifically things like ice tea, diet soda (yes I'm bad) any sort of crystal light or flavored water, as well as water. I asked about coffee too and they told me if it was iced coffee or not overly hot or something but that I really needed to brush/rinse my retainer after. Some days I feel like I spend the whole day drinking things, and if I took it out every time I was drinking it would be pointless, it would spend more time in the case than my mouth.

Oddly enough, I was reading through a booklet I received from my FIRST ortho (back in 95) and that booklet actually references EATING AND DRINKING while wearing both retainers. It had a little blurb that said - it might be harder to eat initially but that it would get easier. HA. My current ortho said don't eat with it in, I could break it!

I have a hawley though, I'm not sure I would want to drink anything with a clear retainer, doesn't stuff get inside it? I even get disgusted by mouthguards. Good thing I was an adult when I had my braces the first time and I didn't need to get any custom sports mouthguards or anything.

I'm wearing the clear kind. I can't eat or drink anything except water while their in. I don't see what the harm of diet coke would be, besides getting caught in there and they all you would have to do is rinse them out. Since the retainers won't allow my mouth to close completely my mouth get's so dry and I have to drink something. All this water is making me feel so full. >.<

drrick wrote:The reason is beacuse the only thing 2 dentists will agree on is that the 3rd dentist is wrong

I have had one dentist tell me they can do some bonding on my lower teeth and the other dentist said it couldn't be done. Go figure?

Anyway Dr., what is your opinion on this subject of eating and drinking with retainers?

I typically tell pts to remove them when they eat or drink.

Having said that there are some appliances used in orthodontics where you want the pts to eat with them in.

For rets though I prefer them to be removed to eat or drink (water would probably be ok though)