Positioner frustration

[desertd]

I got my braces off in February. Was given a positioner in March, told to wear it at night, to try to close some gaps that were left. I almost wish I had been kept in braces a little longer, as the positioner is annoying to sleep with especially when I have a cold or allergies. It did close the gaps but my ortho did see a few teeth trying to rotate back, which it sounded like the way he talked happens sometimes with positioners. I am still overall happy with the result compared to where I started but it sounds like he may want to fix the rotations. If he'll put braces back on, I'm fine with that, but if he asks me to pay again, I'll just ask for retainers.

[djspeece]

Looks like a pretty good result. I am curious why you were directed to use the positioner -- I assume that's the same thing as a retainer -- only at night. From my understanding the typical plan is 24/7 for at least 3 months, and then at night only. Best of luck and I hope your final result sticks!

[desertd]

Yeah, I'm overall pretty happy if I don't think about it. Maybe I'm nitpicking a bit. Yeah my ortho is slightly unconventional with retention, etc. (he normally recommends 24/7 for only 30 days from what I've heard him tell others) so that may translate to the positioner department. I had a few small gaps he was trying to correct (see my last post under the link in my signature) but those are definitely closed. Will update next week after I meet with him.

[trifecta]

Hope all went well at your ortho visit yesterday. It was my 9 month anniversary in lower brackets. Relapse, particularly minor relapse is very common.
Wearing a retainer 24/7 for only 30 days seems like a very short time to me. More retainer wear equals less relapse. You can see how it goes wearing
the retainer only at night after the 30 days but if it feels at all tight going in I would recommend going back to 24/7 for at least several months then
back to night only essentially indefinitely if you want to avoid relapse. As far as charging goes, if the doc feels like going back into braces is needed I
would not think there should be an additional fee. Good Luck!

[Dunnyet]

Hi- I’m fairly new to this forum, is a positioner different than a retainer? Or different terms for the same appliance? Just curious!

[jem]

Hi deserted,

While your teeth still look great, there does appear to have been a fair bit of movement since your braces came off. You will ( hopefully) only be doing this once and you have put in a lot of time effort and money into it. I would feel inclined to ask your ortho to get your teeth back at least to how they were at debracing date-whether through re-applying braces or using invisalign or whatever. This should not involve any cost to you since it was up to your ortho to prevent any relapse at this early stage.

I think it would be useful to consider carefully whether you are prepared in the long term to accept this slightly compromised result. If you decide at a later date that you are not happy with it or you have further relapse, I imagine you would end up having to pay for any re-treatment yourself.

Good luck with your appointment!

Jem

[desertd]

Update - I have retainers now. He made the top retainer so it would get start getting the lateral back into alignment. It hurts some but hopefully this will start to correct things.

[jem]

I hope the retainers get your teeth re-aligned for you.

[djspeece]

Update - I have retainers now. He made the top retainer so it would get start getting the lateral back into alignment. It hurts some but hopefully this will start to correct things.

Like they say, no pain, no gain! Best of luck and I hope you are seeing some results by now!

[jem]

What type of retainers do you have?