There are many reasons why patients stop wearing their retainers \u2013 We lose them, stop wearing them because they get old or stop fitting and obviously dogs and retainers definitely don\u2019t mix!<\/p>\n
At recently as 10 years ago, many orthodontists would have recommended that adolescent patients wear their retainers for 1-2 years thinking that with healing and maturity that the teeth were now \u201cset\u201d in the new position and would stay that way.<\/p>\n
Recent research has shown that retainers, whilst good at holding the position of teeth for those 1-2 years, won\u2019t guarantee straight teeth forever. We now know that not only growth but aging have an effect on the position of our teeth.<\/p>\n
Basically our teeth have the ability to drift. When we lived in caves and had coarse diets our teeth were worn down and became gappy. The tiny ligaments that run between the teeth would then pull them together to close the gaps moving the teeth together. The space behind them would then allow the 2nd<\/sup> Molar teeth and then eventually the wisdom teeth to come through straight. Neat system if you have tooth wear but not so great for modern diets that are more refined!<\/p>\n Our teeth still have the drifting ability today and this means they won\u2019t stay straight without help. It also means, because we are living longer, as we age we are more likely to have crossing over of the front teeth so it\u2019s really important to keep the position of our teeth straight and that means wearing a retainer long term.<\/p>\n See this great video put together by the British Orthodontic Society for their \u201chold that smile\u201d campaign<\/p>\n