Do you think I could stop wearing my retainers?

Question

I've had my braces off for about 5 months and have been wearing my retainer as directed by my ortho ever since. My teeth look really nice and I kept them off for a while and it doesn't look like they've moved at all. So do you think I can get away with not wearing them anymore? I really don't like to. Thoughts please?

Thanks.

Answer 1

You can probably just wear your retainer at night like the other person suggested, but if you stop wearing them altogether, your teeth will definitely shift.  That is a certainty.

Unfortunately, if you want to keep your teeth straight, you need to wear your retainers for the rest of your life.  Eventually you can probably wear them one night per week, but when people start doing that, once/wk turns into once/month, turns into never, and your teeth WILL MOVE.

Sorry for the bad news.

If you do choose to wear your retainer less frequently, when you do wear them, if they feel tight, you need to wear them more often.

It may not look like your teeth are moving, but if you don't wear your retainers for a matter of days, your teeth definitely will move.

Answer 2

yea you dont have to wear it as much now. if i were you, i'd at least wear it at night every week or two just in case.. because you really don't want to regret not wearing retainers and having to throw away 5000 bucks to have ur teeth shift back into place >.>

Answer 3

i stopped wearing my retainer after only two months and my teeth haven't shifted at all..if u want u can wear it at night just to be sure, but nothing happened to me...orthodontists hate us haha

Answer 4

Yeah not a good idea. You could probably wear them like every other day, or not when you spend the night at someone's house or something, but your teeth are moving even though you can't really see a difference.  You don't want to have to have braces again :(

Answer 5

Yeah, wear them at night. but every night. just tell your ortho you're still wearing them. haha.

i lost mine, so i didn't wear mine at all for almost a year, and i didn't notice a difference. but then i found them yesterday, so i wore them last night and my teeth actually look a lot straighter and fit together nicer today. they were sore, but i'm so glad i did. right before school especially haha.

Answer 6

Nope...don't do it. I had a friend that tried that...and she has braces again!

Answer 7

i dont think so

Answer 8

Wear your retainer.  I will not kill you.  I got my braces off over a year ago, and I am at the point where I can wear it only at night a few nights a week.  But I can tell that if I skip more than two nights, when I put the retainer back on, my teeth have already moved and the retainer is tight.  So I try to stay in the habit of wearing it every night.

As an adult who paid for her braces herself, I don't want to throw away my money.  I have seen so many adults with really bad teeth who say "I had braces as a kid [paid for by Mommy and Daddy, of course], but I didn't wear my retainer."  Since I had to bust my rear end to pay for my own, I will be proud to wear my retainer.  I don't know if you're a youngster or an oldster, but either way...wear your retainer as much as you can.  Don't fool yourself into thinking that your teeth won't return to the way they were, because they will, no matter how long it's been.