❤️Today we had 4 new orthodontic/dental braces patients

✅🧐All new, but well, not really. They all had had braces as a kid

🙈The question – Did you wear your retainers

🤓The answer is ” no.”

🔍So Off I went to find James to ask him about retention

😍Retainers – The ones you have after Orthodontics /Dental Braces

✅You know the ones you were told to wear as a kid, but well, you lost them, you wore them when you remembered or worse still, your looking for the Kids tonight when they were only fitted last week

👍I asked James and Crew about this one. They’re the guys that know about dental braces #isleofmandentist

✅Retainers, do you need them after orthodontics – YES

✅For How Long should I wear them? Overnight for the rest of your Life

✅How many hours per day? Well, on average, 9 hours per day

✅What’s the best Type? – Keep reading below

“Well, let’s look at the Evidence”,- he said and off we went to Kevin Obriens Blog – Professor of Orthodontics at the University of Manchester, UK.

✅As dentists, we love Kevin Obriens Blogs – as the Evidence is presented to you in a way that makes sense and is easy to relay to the patient

❤️Removable retainers-How long Do I wear them

We would tell you at night, and the Evidence shows that it is just as effective as Full time.

https://kevinobrienorthoblog.com/how-long-should-patients-wear-their-retainers/?fbclid=IwAR23Q7IObYop5Ji4iObbJ58TExAfLQ7JNX4XMJOd-NCxslLJJmeXcz7qhRQ

✅How long should a Fixed Retainer last – well, read here

https://kevinobrienorthoblog.com/how-long-do-bonded-retainers-last/

✅Their overall conclusions were:

The 5-year survival rate for the retainers was 46%

Most failures occurred in the first year (83%).

There was no marked change in intercanine and inter-premolar distances.

There was no difference between the direct and indirectly bonded retainers

So Dont be disappointed if your retainer debonds in the first year 83% do, and on average, if you’ve had a retainer placed for two years or longer, it’s unlikely to debond

What’s the Best Type of retainer – Removable or Fixed

The Evidence again looked at removable vs Fixed retention

https://kevinobrienorthoblog.com/are-fixed-retainers-better-than-vfrs/

The Conclusion

“Anterior alignment in the mandible was more stable with a bonded retainer compared to a removable VFR after five years of retention.”

✅Simply put, the Fixed retainer appeared better maybe because it was fixed but debonding and monitoring are always an issue

” Always Dual retention,” Says James ” Cover all bases” – a fixed and a removable retainer, in a way, a safety net… Double insurance.

So 🧐before you even begin Orthodontics / Dental Braces, we will always advise you about retention – we have to. You may want straight teeth, but in a way, it’s a commitment life, and in a way, I suppose, becomes just part and parcel of Life

✅Indeed a subject that I would guess that many readers of this will be able to relate to

🙃I had braces as a kid, and they all moved back.

🙃I had Invisalign, and they moved again

🙃I had years of appliances, and they are just as bad

🙃I’m starting again at 50 – I had braces as a kid

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

But maybe you, like many, simply lost the retainer, perhaps you didn’t wear the retainer for as long as you should have, and perhaps you are part of the statistics that show that without retention, those teeth will once again become crooked, The front tooth starts to drift when really all you had to do was wear your retainer !!!!!!!

Life Lessons and Age 🙈

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