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Are There Differing Opinions on How Frequent Retainers Should Be Worn After Invisalign?

It was brought up in the Invisalign community that the protocol for how frequent a patient should wear their retainers after treatment may not be agreed upon by all dentists/orthodontists. I was under the impression a patient was to wear their retainers full-time for 6 months, then at bed time as long as they wanted to maintain their straightening. What, if any, are the other wearing recommendations doctors are giving?

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8 Doctor Answers | Asked by anon

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How long & how many hours should I wear my retainer?

This is one of the best and yet hardest questions to answer. It’s true there are ton of differing opinions out there. I believe what patients and doctors have in mind are two different things. I found out what patients really want to know is how can they gage if they have worn retainers enough hours, days and months? When wearing clear retainers such as Vivera or Essix retainers, the clear retainer itself is the actual gage! Here is how and why? Let’s... more

How often to wear retainers after invisalign

In my office I have my patients where their retainer for 6 months after completion of invisalign and at night after that period. I find that it works best for my patients and their results. Other dentists and orthodontists may have a different protocol.

Retainer wear after Invisalign treatment can vary

The answer to the question of how much time a person should wear retainers after Invisalign (or braces for that matter) depends on several factors that can vary among different patients. However, it might be of help to understand how your doctor may assess the need for retainer wear. He or she needs to look at the actual treatment result and decide: Is the malocclusion complete in it's correction or are there other changes that should be made? Is the... more

Wearing retainers after Invisalign-How often and how long

In our practice, after Invisalign is completed, we tell our patients to wear their retainers only at night, but we also adjust teeth that may be hitting too heavy so that things already fit together better. There are times when due to planned cosmetic crown and bridge work, we have to hold teeth together for the entire day until crown and bridgework can be completed to lock teeth into their positions. Then we make new retainers for nights only. We tell our patients that the... more

Wearing retainers after Invisilign or traditional braces are important.

The reason to wear retainers after invisilign is to retain your teeth in their final position. How long to wear them is based on how long you want to keep your teeth straight....hopefully forever. During treatment, the teeth move based on the pressures applied to them. The final tooth position should allow the teeth to occlude(mesh) well without any other forces acting on the teeth to move them more. Nighttime wearing of a well fitting retainer ensures that consistant... more

How Long Should a Patient Wear Their Invisalign Retainers?

This is a great question. The standard answer is all night for one year. In more detail, it depends upon how far the teeth were moved, the direction of the movements and how long the treatment required to achieve the final result. Especially if the teeth were rotated, it takes far longer for the forces on the roots to "Relax", to avoid a significant relapse. A patient should keep their retainer for years because the teeth constantly change position... more

Retainers for life.

The analogy we like to use with our patients is, once you work hard to get into shape and achieve the physique that you desire, you will have to work to maintain that forever. Once you stop, the lbs start packing on again. Once you move teeth with orthodontic treatment, you will always have to retain them. Your teeth may not relapse to where they were originally, but they will indeed move if you are not using some type of retainer. We are retreating adults who didn't... more