Should i wear my retainer at all times?

Question

yea so i just got my braces off finally but now i have to wear this retainer 24/7...my ortho said not to wear it swimming, drinking acidic stuff like coca cola and eating...do you think it would matter if i kept it on like 20 hours a day and take it out for like parties and dinner and stuff cuz it would be really inconvenient, and also i play hockey and im guessing i shouldnt wear it while playing right? any help would be appreciated

Answer 1

mostly... you just keep it on when you sleep.... and take it off then....

but ask youre orthodontist.

Answer 2

im getting my braces off tomorrow and i wont wear it to partys or dinners either. but i will wear it every other time

Answer 3

yeh i guess its alright if you take i out for a few hours

but seriously, wear it ALL THE TIME apart from that

i didnt wear mine much

my teeth have moved back a bit

then my dog chewed my retainers

and the orthodontist ended my treatment

so im stuck with crappy teeth again,

just wear them

Answer 4

Is it the clear kind of retainer? - If they are:

I use to have them too. I was instructed to wear them all the time for three months then I would only have to wear them at night. You shouldn't wear them when eating or drinking something (except water).

Don't wear them swimming, but you are able to wear them while playing hockey. If you are going to a party or eating a meal then you should take them out but you must at least wear them at night.

It probably varies from patient to patient but you should ask your denist or orthodontist.

Hope this helps.

Answer 5

I would listen to your orthodontist.  Keep it in whenever possible. Of course you won't want to wear it while playing hockey or eating.  But I don't think your social life, like partying, should stop you from wearing it.  Just remember that the more often you aren't wearing it, the more likely your teeth will go back to their original positions.  Then that will have defeated the whole purpose of going through the agony of wearing braces.

Answer 6

Ask your ortho But when u think u shouldnt wear it DON"T WHERE IT!!!!!

Answer 7

I doubt taking it out to go to a game or a party till do anything. BUT just dont get to used to not wearing it because a couple people that i know didn't wear it when they were sapposed to & their teeth eventually started shifting again.

-Maybe ask about a built in retainer, thats what i have, & i got a retainer that i was sapposed to wear at night but i never did. The built in one is the same thing its just glued on the back of your teeth

Answer 8

Retainers are worse than braces. It depends how crowded your mouth is. If you don't wear it for a day, you'll feel your teeth shift back to how they were before the b races if your mouth is really crowded, and if not, only wearing it 20 hrs a day would be fine. My ortho told me "Nighttime for lifetime" so I only wear it at night...however that didn't work because my mouth is so crowded (still have wisdom teeth) that all the effort put in by wearing them at night was ruined by the 12th hour of the day.

Feel it out first. It's your mouth.. you know it best.

Answer 9

No I don't think it would matter. My ortho. said that I have to wear mine 24/7 except when I am eating so I count gum as eating just so I can have them out and he has never noticed. Yea. I am guessing that wearing them while playing hockey wouldn't be a good idea, because they could break =)

Answer 10

I had my braces taken off last year, and my orthodontist still wants me to wear my retainers. (yes, I have 2! LOL.) That is correct, don't wear it swimming, and don't wear it while you eat. I wouldn't be concerned about having it in while you drink Coca-Cola or something like that. Just make sure that when your done drinking the Coca-Cola that you brush your retainer. That's another thing. ALWAYS wash your retainer when you get up in the morning (because you should be wearing it at night time) and before you go to bed, and put it right into your mouth. I would take it out for parties, because if there is eating involved, it wouldn't be polite to pull it out to eat and have it sitting there for everyone to see. LOL. DON'T wear it while you play hockey. It might possibly break and they cost about 350 dollars. (That's what mine cost, but I'm not sure if that was for the price of 1, or 2.) LOL I suggest wearing it 24/7 except certain times, such as swimming, eating, going to parties, etc. That is when you take it off. You should be wearing it all other times though, because if you don't, your 2 front teeth will have a HUGE gap. That's what happened to me. Now I wear mine all the time.

I hope I helped! :D

Answer 11

Wear it as often as you can during the day but be sure to sleep with it at night.  This should give your teeth plenty of time to adjust.  I wouldn't leave it off for more than a few hours at a time though.  On a personal note, I decided to throw my retainer in the garbage when I went to college, and four years later my teeth on the bottom had gone back to almost their original prebraces state.  So I feel your pain about not wanting to wear them.  Just don't get carried away.

Answer 12

u may want to ask ur dentist that one

Answer 13

I took mine off few a few hours each day to take a break from it. That was a few years ago and it didn't seem to mess anything up

Answer 14

I would follow your ortho's instructions.  Your ortho went to school for this and he or she probably knows what he or she is talking about.

Answer 15

Wear it at night when your going to bed

Answer 16

definitely ask your orthodontist. i only have to wear mine at night when I'm sleeping.

Answer 17

Yeah, that would be no problem to skip it for parties just be sure to always put them back in to sleep and aslong as you can. BC your teeth aren't used to not having braces pulling them together anymore. So you don't want them to spread out back to their places. But as long as the first few months you keep them on as long as you can a day it will be fine, and little bit here and there taking them off won't hurt at all. I just wear my now to bed but I've had mine off for a few years now.  

Answer 18

yeah they told me the same thing and when i heard that i was thinking to myself "wtf eff that ****" so i just wear it when im at home and everything is fine, and I've even gone back for a checkup and they said everything was going great, and i wanted to laugh in their face and say i haven't even been wearing it all day