3 Important Reasons to Wear Retainers for Your Teeth
There are many reasons why you should wear retainers for your teeth. If you would like to learn more, you should click here.
Nearly a quarter of all retainer wearers had stopped wearing their retainers by the time they hit one year of use. If you’re battling with whether you should wear retainers or stop, understanding the benefits of abiding by your prescribed retainer usage will help you make a decision.
If you’ve been given retainers, there’s a clear reason and goal behind it. Foregoing wearing your retainers can undo any progress you’ve made with the aesthetic look of your smile.
Why Should You Wear Retainers?
Depending on your dentist’s recommendations and how quickly your teeth move, you’ll be given retainers to be worn for a prescribed number of hours each day. For many people, this is often just nighttime wear.
Retainers help keep your teeth from shifting after an orthodontic treatment plan to straighten them. If you avoid wearing your retainer or wear it less frequently than you’ve been advised, your teeth could begin to shift back to their original positions.
What Do Retainers Do?
As mentioned previously, a retainer’s sole purpose is to keep your teeth from shifting. Whether these are permanent retainers or removable retainers you pop in each night, they are designed to keep your teeth from shifting and correcting any micromovements your teeth make. Without having your retainers in part-time, or permanently if you have a fixed version, your teeth will slowly move out of their corrected positions.
Top 3 Reasons to Wear Your Retainers
If keeping your teeth straight isn’t enough of a reason for regularly wearing your retainer, we’ve dug of three more.
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It Can Prepare Your Mouth for Wisdom Teeth
As most braces are placed in young adults, plans are put into place to accommodate wisdom teeth when they do start to come in. If you aren’t regularly wearing your retainers it could completely through off the transition. This means you could have a major shift in your teeth when the wisdom teeth do come in.
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Stabilize Your Bite
Your bone and gums need to adjust to the new location of your teeth. A retainer helps to keep your teeth from shifting while this stabilizing process takes place.
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Prevent Your Orthodontic Treatment From Reversing
If you refuse to wear your retainer or wear it less than you should, your teeth are likely to move back to their old position. This can completely reverse the entirety of your orthodontic treatment plan’s progress to correctly align your teeth.
What Are the Different Types of Retainers?
There are a number of different types of retainers. Your dentist will select the option they deem most appropriate for your situation and your mouth. But, if you have any preferences you should feel encouraged to review all options with your dentist.
The most basic difference between retainers is having a fixed retainer vs removable retainer. The difference can be seen in the name itself. Fixed retainers are permanently placed in your mouth and can only be removed by a dentist. Removable retainers, on the other hand, will need to be removed by you and placed by you daily.
Getting the Most From Your Retainers
Although it can feel like a hassle, when you wear retainers you are keeping your teeth in check. After the time and monetary investment of an orthodontic treatment plan, you don’t want to throw away how far your teeth have come. Plus, for many, wearing retainers is restricted to a few nights a week—not too much of a hassle to keep straight teeth.
For more information on dental health and hygiene, check out our related blogs.
