One year of retainer-wearing already behind me... or not?

[PaperFlowers]

I had my braces removed yesterday (YAY!!) and was given my retainer today. My ortho told me, just like he tells every single one of his patients, to wear my retainer nonstop for one year. The thing is... for one of the three years I was braced, my wire was not adjusted and my teeth were not moved because I was awaiting surgery, which I decided not to have. I made another post about this in the oral surgery forum.

Anyways, do you think that year of having my teeth "sit" in braces means that I've basically already had a retainer for a year already? Dormant braces function the same as a retainer, right? I know that my ortho will tell me to wear my retainer for a year no matter what, but I'm wondering if I can get away with wearing it at night and when I'm just lounging around at home or studying. I figure that if it starts to feel too tight, I will wear it all the time. What do you think?

[Chris]

I know that my ortho will tell me to wear my retainer for a year no matter what, but I'm wondering if I can get away with wearing it at night and when I'm just lounging around at home or studying. I figure that if it starts to feel too tight, I will wear it all the time. What do you think?

I'll relate my story...after wearing the retainers FULL TIME for almost 4 months, I had to have extensive restorative work done, bone grafting, implants, crowns, etc and a problem painful RCT that never quite settled down. Well, even after several adjustments to my hawley, I just could not wear the lower retainer at all for a couple of months because it was too painful. There really wasn't much I could do (although later I cut my clear retainer to just cover the teeth that didn't hurt or cover my implants. The movement was very slight of only 2 lower front teeth, come to find out that a new hawley with bends in the wire can push those teeth back into place.

Everything depends on how your retainer feels when you take it out for awhile, if its too tight, you know you need to wear it more.

Now this is not a license for everyone to become lax wearing your retainers, I just want everyone to know that the world won't end if you don't wear them full time...at least it didn't for me. I wear my upper hawleys only at night now, and its been less than a year naked and I have NO movement there and it doesn't feel tight either, so I plan on keeping to night only.

Good luck everybody!

[flipib05]

My ortho told me to wear them 24/7 until he says. He said that would be probably a year. I have only been wearing them at night because I just can't get used to them. I hate having them in my mouth plus I am usually always chewing gum so it doesn't really work with my retainers in my mouth. When I wake up, usually around 6am on a weekday, I take them out. Then at about 9pm when I go to bed I brush and floss then put them it. They are a little tight but nothing major. On days when I stay home I put them in and leave them in all day.

[PaperFlowers]

Thanks everyone. To update, I've been wearing my retainer basically 24/7 on days that I don't work and 16 out of 24 hours on days that I do work. When I take them out for eight hours then put them back in, they feel only the slightest bit tight and there is no pain. The reason that I don't wear it to work is because I still have some speech problems (although its drastically improved) and I tend to occassionally spit a little bit when I speak. I'm waitressing right now, so I really don't want to spit on people's food (no more tips for me). When I go back to university, I'll try to wear it as much as possible.

BTW, I'm loving this whole naked tooth thing!