On the day you get your braces off or finish your Invisalign treatment, we know you'll be excited. After all, you're seeing your gorgeous new smile in its full glory for the first time! But hold your horses – because while you may have finished the active stage of your treatment, you're not quite out of the woods yet. After braces or Invisalign comes the retention phase, and it's vital to ensuring that your new smile lasts a lifetime. As your Johannesburg orthodontist, we at Choonara Orthodontics are dedicated to helping you achieve the best possible smile, so here's why it's so important that you wear your retainer.
The Benefits of Retention Therapy
Retention therapy helps solidify your new smile and ensure you enjoy its benefits for a lifetime. But why is a retainer necessary in the first place? The answer is that while your teeth will be in new positions at the end of treatment, the underlying tissues, ligaments, and bones that support your teeth will have yet to adapt to their new positions. In a certain sense, your teeth haven't "set" into place yet, and without retention, they'll simply migrate back to their old positions, erasing your new smile.
A retainer helps hold your teeth in place long enough for the periodontal ligament and other structures in the mouth to adapt to the new smile. At first, you'll need to wear your retainer 24/7, as your smile is particularly vulnerable to regression immediately following treatment. After some more time setting in, you'll be able to switch to wearing the retainer only at night. Eventually, you'll be able to wear your retainer only a few nights a week, and after that only occasionally – but at first, it's absolutely vital that you wear your retainer exactly as directed. Otherwise, your teeth will regress and shift positions, damaging the new smile you've worked so hard to create.
Contact Your Johannesburg Orthodontist
Retention therapy is a necessary part of orthodontic treatment whether you choose braces, Invisalign, or any other treatment we offer. And if you're interested in achieving a new smile of your own, the team at Choonara Orthodontics would love to help. Contact us today to learn more about treatment and see how we can help you achieve a gorgeous, healthy new smile in a way that works for your lifestyle. We can't wait to hear from you, and we look forward to revitalizing your smile through orthodontic treatment!