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You wait for a long time to finish your braces treatment. And it's a breath of fresh air to get your teeth and jaw free from the grip of the braces. But wait! One last and critical stage of your orthodontic treatment is remaining. Your orthodontist will recommend wearing a retainer after braces for some time.

A retainer is a common orthodontics consideration which your dentist will expect you to follow.
Continue reading to understand the importance of dentist recommending retainers after braces.

The Connection Between Braces & Retainers
Braces align and straighten your teeth and jaws. After that, orthodontic retainer doesn't let your teeth move from their corrected positioning. They are custom-made to suit the newly found positioning of your jaws and teeth. Your teeth will settle into the soft tissues and jawbone with the help of a retainer.

Following are the top 4 ways in which diligently wearing orthodontic retainer helps your braces treatment:

• Support Your Soft Tissues
  Your teeth get aligned after braces. But your mouth's soft tissues need time to adjust with your new bite shape. The jaw bone of your mouth also requires support for some time to maintain their new position. Thus suddenly removing braces after years of treatment can shift back the position of aligned teeth.
  If you wear the aligners consistently, you can control the shift to a significant level. Your mouth's soft tissues will get time and support to stabilize with the new structure.


• Provide Time to Jawbone for Adaptation
  Wearing a retainer after braces is not only beneficial for your teeth. But it is also suitable for your gums and bones. Your jawbone needs to align with your teeth's new positioning. Orthodontic retainer gradually puts pressure on your gums and jaws to adapt to your straighten teeth.


• Prevent Further Orthodontics Treatment
  Suppose you don't wear an orthodontic retainer after braces. If your teeth lose their new position, you might need some corrective measures. So it will be better to wear retainers for the prescribed time. It will save you from further orthodontics treatment.


• Prevent the Damage Caused by Wisdom Teeth
  Although braces treatment is now possible for adults, most patients getting braces are kids or teenagers. Wisdom teeth occurrence is expected in the preteen and teenage years. You might find yourself in trouble if your wisdom teeth show up just after your braces treatment.
  It will disturb the straight teeth and might change their position. If you wear retainers after braces, it will ensure that your other teeth don't get disturbed due to the growth of wisdom teeth.

The Repercussion of not Wearing Retainers
Thinking that you can skip this step after your braces are removed would be a big mistake! Your teeth might lose their corrected position if you don't wear retainers. They might come back to their previous position (before braces) in some days.

You might need to go through the 2-3 years of your braces treatment cycle again. And you will be spending a lot of money simultaneously. We are sure you don't want that to happen!

In Conclusion
Good news is wearing an orthodontic retainer is less complicated than wearing braces. The duration is also generally shorter than the period of wearing braces. There are non-removable and removable retainers. The non-removable is even more convenient to wear. But it will depend on your dentist that which one they find suitable for you.

Wearing a retainer after braces is the final step before you flash your perfect smile to the world. So we would recommend following all the instructions of your orthodontist to successfully complete this final stage of the treatment.