Debanded! Now in Positioner purgatory.

[conine]

Hello all:

Last Thursday, I was debanded (est. treatment time of 15 months, actual treatment time was 18 months - the delay was the unavailability of a time slot my surgery). At the time of deband, I was given a positioner, which my ortho says he uses for all surgical patients. He told me to wear it 24 hrs a day for 4 days, then 12 hrs a day for 10 days. At that time, I will get fixed retainers on upper and lower, and an upper hawley at night. I don't mind the hawley - as a teenager, I had both hawleys and essix type, and once I was on nights only, I actually liked the hawleys much better.

For now though, I find the positioner quite tedious. However, I must say that after five days, it is no longer snug. Is this because I am stretching it out, or it is stretching me out, so to speak? I'm concerned because after my first go-around with braces, I was quite hard on essix retainers, literally chewing through several sets in the first year. That caused a lot of shifting and a stint in a spring retainer. I live about 75 miles from my ortho (I live in a rural area), and don't want to make the trip if I don't have to. Does anyone have thoughts?