I've had braces for about a year and a half and I've recently heard from my orthodontist that I'll be getting them off at my next visit. He also told me that he was going to put on either a fixed retainer or a removable retainer that would only need to be worn at night. The fixed retainer would have to stay on for life, but he did not tell me how long I would need the night-time retainer.



  The though that I had to keep something glued in my mouth for the rest of my life didn't quite sit right but he also informed me that the fixed retainer was the best method of the two. I would like someones opinion on the two. If you have one, how does it feel? Is it noticeable? Does it interfere with anything?

I had a removeable retainer, the molded plastic kind that is similar to the invisaline braces when I first got my braces off. Other than leaving you with kind of nasty breath in the morning, this type of retainer is low maintainence. Unfortunately someone threw it away (I had it wrapped up in a paper towel that someone thought was trash).



Then I got a removeable retainer that had the metal wires. This was very uncomfortable and I did NOT like it at all. I stopped wearing it after one of the wires broke.



I wound up getting a fixed retainer about 6 years after my braces came off and that consists of a wire glued to my lower canines. I had mine "installed" on a Friday and by Sunday the wire popped off. By the time I got into the office to have it fixed my teeth had shifted again.



The fixed retainer requires a little more maintainence, you need floss threaders to get in between your teeth and clean behind the retainer. At first it feels very strange but after a while you stop noticing it - just like your braces.

i have a fixed retainer and and removable one i wear at night. The fixed one is in the back of your teeth and you can even feel it.. it makes your teeth stay strait and not move around becuase they are so use to your braces. and the removable retainer keeps them in line also and is for teeth they might be worried about moving around.

fixed retainer? in your mouth forever?????



thats scary.



removable is fine, just wear it every night and your teeth wont ever shift.

i never had a fixed retainer but i had a removable one...that was a pain! i kept losing it and i felt bad because they are $150 a piece! (i had top AND bottom and lost them both three times) i hated them because for every little thing i wanted to eat (say a little cookie) i had to take the retainer out or else it gets REALLY messy...i don't think fixed retainers would get messy...]



think of a fixed retainer like braces...they are permanent, and you kinda got over it when they didn't "sit right" and poked you and gave you blisters, right?



i had the old retainers..the pink ones that go all the way to the roof of your mouth...sry i don't know much about the new clear ones that just go over your teeth.