My Braces Journey: The Retainers

On the day of your braces removal, they'll clean up your teeth after removing those dreadful "armour" or braces brackets.

"Cleaning" involves clearing up all your tar-tar in your teeth, polishing and scaling, so that your teeth won't wear the scars of wearing those metal brackets for so long.

After that, they'll take a mould of your teeth (AGAIN)...for what? This time, it's not for another set of braces, but it's for your RETAINERS.

You'll have to collect your retainers a week later. And they're really strict about that...Because collecting them any later than a week will leave your teeth susceptible to shifting.

You see, after those metal brackets that once hold your teeth together are removed, your teeth are now free to move again. They'll tend to move back into their old positions because what braces does is...it shifts the teeth's position significantly, but the position of the teeth's roots may not (or may never) be fully shifted or settled in position.

It's like pulling a tree sideways with a fixture. Yes, over time, the tree will grow sideways in the direction of the fixture. Once the fixture is removed, the tree will slowly grow back to its natural position...which is...upwards!

The tree will not continue growing sideways once the fixture is removed. Why??

Because the fixture only adjusts the direction of growth...the position of the ROOTS of the tree does not change!

Same it is for our teeth. Our roots will shift slightly, but it may not be in the perfect position to give you that perfect, neat smile. So, like the tree, our teeth needs the "fixture" to hold it in place. The retainers are the "fixture".

Ok, enough "theory" there...Haha. Here's a look at my "fixture" :D

Transparent, plastic, Essix retainers

Yes, I chose the transparent, plastic, "Essix" retainers as they're called. They're kinda like the new "invisalign" transparent braces.

I asked my doctor the pros and cons of these 2 types of retainers available - the traditional metal retainers and the new transparent plastic ones.

In terms of utility, he says both of them are equally effective at doing its job. They'll keep your teeth in shape all right.

In terms of durability, he says both of them are equally durable - it's how well you take care of them. The only thing is...the transparent plastic retainers are more fragile and can break more easily than the metal ones...which can be broken too. Haha.

If you want your teeth in PERFECT alignment, get the transparent retainers. Because it is the exact mould of what your perfect alignment should look like...It'll ensure individual tooth alignment unlike the metal ones which just gives a general outline shape to the teeth.

BUT, unlike its metal, wired counterpart, the transparent, plastic Essix retainer is fixed and cannot be adjusted or tweaked to accommodate minor teeth movements.

If you GRIND YOUR TEETH at night, DO NOT get the transparent plastic retainer. Why? Because, you'll grind it to smithereens! Haha. To the teeth grinders, the Hawley retainer is the best option available for you.

The thing about the metal Hawley retainers is, the acrylic that sticks to the roof of your mouth will impede your pronunciation. This is not a problem with the Essix retainers which only hugs the teeth and not the roof of the mouth.

As for me, I've no teeth-grinding problems and I want to look good...so the transparent, plastic, Essix retainers is the way to go for me! Haha.

Here's a pic of me with and without retainers...

Without retainers (left), with retainers (right)

Can you tell the difference? If you can, good on ya! If you can't, good on ya! LOL. The difference is minimal, so you can wear it out the whole day.

The thing about retainers is this - just when you think the pain of braces is over, you're dead wrong!

When I slipped on my new plastic retainers after one week of my teeth running free, the PAIN that came along with it was nostalgic...HAHA.

IT HURT! And when I removed it, IT HURT EVEN MORE! The suction pull of the plastic retainers during removal really hurt bad!

Just when my teeth thought they were emancipated from their metal overlords, here comes their new slave-driver - Essix retainers.

This shows that within a week, my teeth have went off-shape quite badly. Because if it didn't hurt, it meant that my teeth were obediently sitting in its perfect position. But no, my teeth were naughty and they went to play...so when the retainers came back...It was painful.

After about a week, putting and taking off these new plastic retainers no longer hurt...because my teeth were back in shape.

Moral of the story: Wear your retainers regularly!

I've had friends who were too lazy to wear their retainers and guess what? After a few months, their teeth went back to their old position...AND THEY HAD TO PUT BRACES AGAIN. Bravo you bro. Can't name him here. LOL.

My sister also has a friend who suffered the same fate. After NOT wearing her retainers for a few months, her teeth went awry. Upon realization, she tried putting on her retainers...BUT, GUESS WHAT? Her retainers COULDN'T FIT! LOL! That means? Braces part 2!

So if you don't want a movie sequel to your braces blockbuster, WEAR YOUR DARN RETAINERS you lazy pig! HAHA!

I've been wearing my plastic retainers nightly for 4 months already. And nope, I don't wear my retainers 24-7 (even though I'm supposed to :D) Wearing them every night is good enough. I'm living proof :D

It's too troublesome bringing that blue box around...and it's disgusting having to take out your retainers before every meal and keeping it in that box with saliva dripping off all over it...and having to WEAR IT BACK after your meal. If I'm at home, it's fine. If I'm outside, with friends, the inconvenience of having to go to the toilet twice to do all that retainer maintenance is not worth it. Haha.

The thing about wearing your retainers out is...REMEMBER TO BRING YOUR RETAINER BOX.

My brother lost his retainers once because he forgot to bring his blue retainer box...so before his meal, he took it out and wrapped his retainers in tissue paper and left it on the table. The cleaner aunty at the coffee shop, thinking it was tissue trash, threw that tissue stash away! LOL. #epic

Yes, my siblings are braces graduates too. But unlike their oldest brother, they're using the metal Hawley retainers which have been working well for them too.

Yup, my Essix retainers are doing well. You just got to brush them squeaky clean before keeping them if not they'll stink real bad...And when I say brush, I really do mean use your toothbrush to SCRUB the insides and outsides of the retainers.

And oh, I got a friend who was using his plastic retainers for about a year and a half...and it looks horrible. He showed me his retainers and it was ALL WORN OUT. LOL. I guess he'll be getting a new mould for a new set of Essix retainers soon. I guess that's the downside of using a more fragile and less durable plastic material for retainers.

Yep, this should be my last post on my braces journey. It's been a painful but fun journey with these guys. Like I said in my previous post, braces and retainers really do make good conversations and they do make you look cuter and younger (to some of my girl friends at least)...so it does have its charms too :D

Feel free to ask me any questions on my experience but do take note, I'm NOT A DOCTOR, DENTIST or ORTHODONTIST.

Do read through my previous posts on this whole braces episode too. It's tagged in the category below under "Labels: My Braces Journey" or you can find them to the right navigation bar of my blog, under the "Classifications" tab, click "My Braces Journey".

Hope you had fun reading it as much as I had fun relating these braces anecdotes to you :D Can you hear my teeth shouting "ORD LO!"? HAHA!

And of course, one last hashtag: #BracesFTW! :D