At Boschken Orthodontics, we don’t just believe in straightening your teeth – we believe in keeping your teeth straight for life!
When most people think of orthodontics, they tend to only consider the time that they’re actively straightening their teeth with Invisalign or braces. Many patients don’t know that retention—that is, keeping your teeth straight after you’ve completed treatment – is one of the most important parts of orthodontics! After the time and investment you put in to straightening your smile, we want you to enjoy your beautiful, healthy smile for a lifetime.
How Do I Keep My Teeth Straight After Braces or Invisalign?
After we straighten your teeth with Invisalign or braces, we have to keep them there so they don’t move back to their unhealthy position. When we move teeth, the bone needs to regenerate around the teeth in their new position — this takes some time. And even after all of the bone has regrown, teeth will shift if they’re not kept in the right place.
As we age, our teeth tend to shift towards the front of their mouth. Even if you’ve gone through orthodontic treatment in the past, you’re not an exempt from this – especially if you stopped wearing your retainer as you got older.
This is why a lot of adults who’ve gone through braces find that their teeth relapse back to their old crooked position if they don’t wear their retainers.
When Straightened Teeth Go Crooked Again: Why Retainers Are Important
Retainers are vital to keeping your newly straightened teeth in place, and to prevent them from going back into their unhealthy position. Unfortunately, though, a lot of patients stop wearing their retainers.
Why?
Lots of reasons.
When people stop wearing their retainers, it’s usually because:
- They lose their retainer
- The retainer breaks
- The retainer gets old, and they don’t want to put it in their mouth
- They haven’t worn it in a while and can’t get it into place anymore
- It wears out over time and doesn’t hold their teeth in the right place
In a lot of orthodontic offices, patients receive one retainer at the end of treatment. And with just that one retainer, any of the above can happen.
Then, it’s just human nature to procrastinate going back to the orthodontist to get another. And even during the time when they’re not wearing a retainer, the teeth can shift and cause a relapse. Then the doctor has to remake the retainer based on where the patient’s teeth have shifted.
This is definitely no fun for the patient who worked so hard to get straight teeth with braces or Invisalign!
Keeping Your Teeth Straight: Retention for Life at Boschken Orthodontics
At Boschken Orthodontics, we believe in doing things the right way, and helping our patients keep their beautiful healthy smiles for life. We do things a little differently to ensure our patients don’t fall into relapse.
We use a state-of-the-art retention system made by Align Technology called Vivera retainers.
With Vivera retainers, you’ll receive 4 strong sets of retainers. If you lose or break one, you have backups. If you travel or split your time, you can keep a set in each place.
Since you’ll rotate between the 4, that will ensure that you’ll always have a strong fresh set that won’t wear out – or get yellow and gross!
And the best part is, the digital mold of your perfect teeth is kept on file for life – so that means if you ever need to order more retainers, we can have them made from your perfect smile, so you never have to worry about relapse.
Additionally, Vivera retainers have been proven to be one of the strongest plastic materials on the market so it will stay sturdy – we always want the best for our patients!
If you’ve finished orthodontic treatment, and would like Vivera retainers, give us a call today! Or even if your teeth have started to shift, and you want to keep them from shifting more, we can help with that too. Know that when you get your orthodontic treatment in our practice, we will always help you keep your beautiful healthy smile for life.
