Effective Retainers in Winnipeg

Your braces are off and it’s time to show off your smile! Now your teeth want to stay straight – sort of – but not as much as you want them to. That’s why you need retainers. Your orthodontist provides you with fixed or removable retainers after your braces are removed. A retainer helps maintain teeth alignment and improves speech impediments. At Dr. John Campbell’s clinic , we provide you with quality retainers in Winnipeg and guide you on how to use them. You can count on us for orthodontic treatments to improve your teeth appearance.

 

Why Retainers are Important?

Your teeth never stop moving – it’s completely normal and natural for them to move, whether you’ve had braces or not. Nothing in your body stays still or remains the same. Life is movement – you can’t avoid it. We’ve given you retainers to minimize those natural movements. In fact no part of your body can stay as good and as young looking as your smile with some help from the retainers.

Teeth are hard and set in bone so it’s not obvious that they’ll move. They will – guaranteed. Your teeth are going to move for the rest of your life and we want to minimize that movement to keep your great smile. Teeth move because the bone that holds them is constantly adjusting to the natural changes in your body. You want to keep those retainers fitting because that means your teeth are straight.

When the retainers fit well, and your teeth look good, you know things are fine. We ask you to start wearing the retainers 24/7 when your braces first come off, when your teeth are moving the most. You can take the retainers out for eating and for short periods, but you really want those teeth and retainers to settle into each other for this first period.

When you leave the retainer out, it’ll be a little tight when you put it back in, but make sure you put them into place. Don’t bite the retainer into place. That will break the wires that hold onto the molars. Be sure the retainer is fully in place. You’ll quickly get to know how the retainer is supposed to feel when it’s fitting into place properly and if it feels wrong – don’t leave it!

Keep trying until you get that retainer back into place. If the retainer is not fitting normally, call us! The sooner you see us, the better. The longer you leave it, the more likely you’ll need a new retainer.

When you leave the retainer out for a while, it’s normal for the retainer to be tight when you put it back in. It should settle back to feeling normal in a few seconds or a minute or two at the most – unless you’ve left it out for longer! If the teeth have moved more, the retainer can be pretty tight for a few hours or a few days. If you stick with it, the retainer will settle back into place, as it gradually moves the teeth back into position.

The retainer is not the best way to move the teeth – braces are, but we don’t want to go back to those. If the retainer still fits poorly after a few days, call us and we’ll see you. We may be able to adjust the retainer or we may have to remake the plastic part to fit the teeth better. Many of these minor movements are not noticeable, but they’re enough to make your retainer fit poorly.

Teeth have their own unpredictable rhythm of movement. I like to say teeth move in two ways – slowly and quickly and you don’t know the timetable. That’s why we want you to keep wearing the retainer regularly to keep track of the fit. A well-fitting retainer makes those little adjustments to your teeth to keep them straight. Now if the teeth move too much, then the retainer can’t do that.

So if the teeth move this much, the retainer can easily move them back. If the teeth move this much, the retainer will be tight, but if you stick with it the teeth can move back and the retainer will fit better. If the teeth move this much, we’ll need to redo the plastic of the retainer.

And if the teeth move this much we have to talk about ways to move the teeth straight again or remake the plastic to hold the teeth in their new, somewhat crooked positions.

The retainer is a wonderful tool to make minor movements to keep the teeth straight and a great check-up tool, to catch teeth moving before the change is noticeable. The trick is to keep wearing the retainers regularly to catch these tooth movements in the early stages. When the retainer feels tighter, wear it more. You know your teeth are moving.

You’ll quickly get to wearing your retainer at night and life will be easier. You can just keep your retainers beside your bed. And a big bonus of the retainers is that many people find they grind and clench their teeth less with the retainers. So less wear and tear on your teeth! It’s not unusual for people to find their retainers very comfortable once they get used to them.

 

Browse the FAQ section to learn more about our services. Contact us for an appointment today if you need retainers in Winnipeg and we’ll be happy to assist you.