Advice on dental retainers.

Izzabellasasperella · 2019-04-20T10:19:10+00:00

My ds (16) has been been prescribed upper and lower retainers due to a fairly serious under bite. He is struggling a bit with them although things have settled down in the past few weeks. I was just wondering if anyone else had or has a dc who had them. Did they work? He has been told it will take 6 to 8 months to see an improvement. At the moment they do affect his speech(not that he was a chatterbox before lol) Also he can't eat or drink with them in. Just looking for some reassurance that it will all be worth it in the end😀

TeenTimesTwo · 20/04/2019 13:29

DD has had removable braces followed by the fixed 'train tracks' for 18 months now. She ate with the removable ones in - the orthodontist said that was best as that is when the mouth does most work so it makes the most difference. She struggled for a couple of days eating but then was fine. Her speech has always been poor anyway so I haven't noticed much difference.

(I thought 'retainers' was just for when treatment had finished and you needed to retain the new position. But that might be a regional thing?)

ketchupormayo · 20/04/2019 13:43

Ortho dental nurse here 🙋🏼‍♀️ they will absolutely work as long as they're being worn enough x

ketchupormayo · 20/04/2019 13:44

Practice talking in front of the mirror alone, take them out for eating and drinking anything but Water and take them out for sport unless it's something no contact x

mcjx · 20/04/2019 13:46

@Izzabellasasperella yes I had these for 9 months and they were fucking horrendous but did wonders! I did find them hard at first and felt terribly self conscious.

He will be fine though

WatcherintheRye · 20/04/2019 14:34

Are they definitely retainers? Only I thought retainers were worn to keep the teeth in place after treatment? They sound like the twin block (removable) braces ds has worn for 8 months to realign his jaw (overbite) prior to having fixed 'train track' braces. He had to wear them day and night for as close to 22 hours as he could manage (he didn't always!) until recently when he has been told to just wear them at night. Fixed braces to be fitted after Easter.

Although he'd been warned he would experience some discomfort till his mouth adjusted, he was actually in a lot of pain 4 or 5 days in, so went back and some of the brace was shaved away, where it had been catching his gum, and it was much better after that, so I'd go back if they ever become painful to wear for your ds.

If those are the braces you son has, then although it does take a while to get used to, the results can be quite marked fairly quickly, if they are worn according to the orthodontists instructions. Even with some lapses in wear, ds seems to have got to the point in 8 months where his jaw has been realigned sufficiently to now move on to straightening his teeth. I would say it's definitely worth your ds sticking with it! I'm sure he'll start to notice a difference quite quickly, especially if he wears them as instructed. Good luck.

WatcherintheRye · 20/04/2019 14:37

Are they definitely retainers? Only I thought retainers were worn to keep the teeth in place after treatment? They sound like the twin block (removable) braces ds has worn for 8 months to realign his jaw (overbite) prior to having fixed 'train track' braces. He had to wear them day and night for as close to 22 hours as he could manage (he didn't always!) until recently when he has been told to just wear them at night. Fixed braces to be fitted after Easter.

Although he'd been warned he would experience some discomfort till his mouth adjusted, he was actually in a lot of pain 4 or 5 days in, so went back and some of the brace was shaved away, where it had been catching his gum, and it was much better after that, so I'd go back if they ever become painful to wear for your ds.

If those are the braces you son has, then although it does take a while to get used to, the results can be quite marked fairly quickly, if they are worn according to the orthodontists instructions. Even with some lapses in wear, ds seems to have got to the point in 8 months where his jaw has been realigned sufficiently to now move on to straightening his teeth. I would say it's definitely worth your ds sticking with it! I'm sure he'll start to notice a difference quite quickly, especially if he wears them as instructed. Good luck!

WatcherintheRye · 20/04/2019 14:39

Oops, sorry A long double post!

Original poster

Izzabellasasperella · 20/04/2019 15:13

Thank you for your replies. It's helped to hear other stories about them.
Yes sorry they are removable braces, we just got into the habit of calling them retainers.
Ds is very good about wearing them. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he can finish with them by September when he goes to college. He will have the train tracks fitted when his bite is adjusted.

OP posts:

birdsdestiny · 20/04/2019 15:16

Ds has the removable braces at the moment. We can already notice a significant impovement, it's worth it, although easy for me to say!