First of all, let’s understand why you should wear a retainer?

In fact, our teeth move for life and have memory. The teeth that have just changed their positions are not honest. The teeth and alveolar bones are still uncontrollably moving, and they may return to their original positions at any time! At this time, in order to avoid backlash, we will welcome a new friend – the retainer.

About “How long is the retainer generally worn?”

What we most often hear is that it generally takes two years to wear, and some doctors require patients to wear a retainer for life. Lifetime wear does not mean that it is worn 24 hours a day, but gradually decreases according to the stability of its teeth. Wear time, 24 hours a day in the first year, then at night, and then gradually reduce the wearing time every other day, a week, or a month.

Under what circumstances can we gradually reduce the wearing time of the retainer?

The following is the experience

I’ve had my braces removed for three years now.

After I got the retainer, I followed the doctor’s advice and started wearing it for 24 hours a day (except for brushing my teeth and eating), during this period I finally felt that the retainer was the beginning of the nightmare. For the traditional retainer, I have to take it out every time I eat, brush my teeth and rinse my mouth after eating, and then put the retainer back on. I am even puzzled by foodies.

Based on my own teeth, I came to the following conclusions during the retainer:

1. When the retainer is half a year: I have not worn it for 3 consecutive hours in 24 hours a day, and I will find it very tight when I put it back on again. This signal tells me that the teeth cannot leave the retainer for more than 3 hours.

2. When the retainer is 9 months old: I have tried several times to leave the retainer for 3 consecutive hours, and then put it back on again. I found that it is very easy to put on and remove the retainer, which means that the teeth are gradually stabilized, but they cannot be loosened. It is necessary to continue to persevere.

3. When the retainer is one year: only wear it at night to sleep, and wear it for about 8 hours a day. I put the retainer back on before going to bed the next day and found it difficult to put it on. It would feel tight and my teeth would even feel a little sore, which proved that the time away from the retainer was a bit long this time, so I shortened the time to 5 consecutive hours, 6 hours or more, until it is easier to take off and put on, and then continue to shorten the wearing time.

4. Retainer for two years and two months: I have not worn the retainer during the day, I only wear it at night when I sleep, and I will not find it very tight when I put it back on. This situation shows that the teeth have stabilized, and then I continue to do it every other day. , three times a week, once a week, etc., and slowly adjust the wearing of the retainer according to the stability of the teeth. During the period of the retainer, I will also go to my dentist for a follow-up visit every six months until the teeth are stable.

5. The retainer is two and a half years old: now I start wearing it every other night, and I won’t find it very tight when I put it back on. It has also been proved that it is possible to get rid of wearing the retainer every night, and will continue to test to reduce the time of wearing the retainer until the teeth are completely stabilized.

Finally, because the stability of each person’s teeth is different, the time to wear the retainer will also be different. You can refer to the above analysis and then compare the doctor’s opinion. If you find that the tooth is not fully seated, you must not leave the retainer.