Post-Orthodontia

January 17, 2005 7:13 AM

How long does it take for your teeth to fuse to the jaw and maxilla after having braces? I had braces some five years ago and wore a retainer. I sort of lapsed and have also recently restarted and was wondering what to expect. [mi]

My teeth have definitely shifted over the past five years because I have not been wearing the retainer. I was told by the orthodontist that the bone would grow around it. How quickly does the bone grow? Does it grow at all or am I doomed to wear this stuff every night forever?

posted by Napierzaza to health & fitness (9 comments total)

On a tooth related note do those whitening strips work at all? Anyone?
posted by Napierzaza at 7:16 AM on January 17, 2005

i'm in the same boat as you - need to start wearing a retainer again (mine's broken). i don't know how long it will take, but your orthodontist might.

but the tooth whitening strips work pretty well for regular coffee/tea-stained teeth. they make your teeth a few shades lighter if you use them correctly.
posted by littlegirlblue at 7:33 AM on January 17, 2005

I'd suggest that you pay another visit to your orthodontist. You might need a different retainer by now.

And mine (the orthodontist, not my retainer) told me that teeth shift around all your life to some degree. Mine are permanently wired in place.
posted by orange swan at 7:43 AM on January 17, 2005

wear it for as long as you can (if it's a sleep retainer). I had braces for lots of years (five), and a retainer (for night time) for only one year afterward. I wore it a little longer, and even in the daytime, but broke some time later and my teeth pretty much started to move as soon as I stopped wearing that thing. They shift a little for the rest your life, not that it's back to the before braces mess, but they were oh-so-perfect before and just a teeny bit off now.

oh and that whitening stuff? Forget it unles a dentist is doing it.
posted by dabitch at 9:45 AM on January 17, 2005

The whitening stuff makes yr teeth more sensitive. Even the toothpastes. Not very cool.
posted by raedyn at 10:07 AM on January 17, 2005

I had braces for a couple of years as a kid, then a retainer. My wisdom teeth came in, so my retainer didn't fit my teeth anymore, and I stopped wearing it. Gradually, my bottom front tooth popped out and looked stupid. So I had to get braces. Again. At age 21. It cost me $1,500, when all was said and done.

This time, I got a wire permanently affixed to the inside of my lower jaw. It felt weird for a week, now I forget about it for months at a time. Hopefully, never shall my teeth move again.

I know that I haven't answered your question, but I do recommend this path. It's way better than dealing with a retainer.
posted by waldo at 11:09 AM on January 17, 2005

I've had a crowded jaw all my life, and two episodes with braces specifically because I didn't wear my retainer the first time like I was supposed to. It's my (very amateur) understanding that if teeth have any side-pressure applied (like a small jaw unable to accomodate all of them), the teeth will shift, no matter your age.

If you want a really permanent solution, you might have to have a couple of teeth removed to reduce the pressure on the other teeth, then get braces again to straighten everything out. Once they're straight, you'll have to either wear the retainer for a couple of years for the teeth to "settle", or have a semi-permanent retainer attached. Semi-permanent retainers are like braces for just the front 4-6 teeth, and they're attached on the inside wall of the tooth, not the outside (for aesthetic purposes, I imagine).

If you can fit the retainer back in your mouth, but it hurts like hell, that's better than nothing. It means the shifting that's occured isn't so much to require braces all over again. Wedge the retainer in there and wear it 24/7 for a week or so (except when you brush or eat). After a while you'll be able to go back to your normally-scheduled night-time regiment.

As for the whitening stuff: the chemicals used can make your teeth extremely sensitive (as raedyn mentions). Better to just have a dentist do a laser treatment--around my parts it's not prohibitively expensive ($400-500), though YMMV.

Also note that when you whiten your teeth, any fillings you've recieved won't whiten along with them. So if you have any obvious fillings in your front teeth, for example, you'll have to get them refilled with a brighter fill.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 11:23 AM on January 17, 2005

My braces came off about 10 years ago and a wire was affixed to the back of my bottom four front teeth. Since then, I have noticed those teeth have shifted a bit. I hate to think what they'd be like without the wire (which is no problem to wear, but does require a dental pick at home to keep the plaque at bay).
posted by Sangre Azul at 11:55 AM on January 17, 2005

Problem is I've changed cities since I got my retainer and I have no idea how to contact them. Both my retainers are broken but they still fit and are somewhat functional.

I have no support and don't envy the idea of spending 1000$ dollars.
posted by Napierzaza at 12:41 PM on January 17, 2005