Metal Mouth Message Board

Hey! for everyone who is supposed to get a permanent retainer or curious about one and want to know what one looks like (I know i wanted to know what one really looked like...) here's a picture of mine. they arent hard to speak with them, they can sometimes get annoying though if something small gets stuck in it... which is pretty rare, but then again annoying.



Michelle

Wow, yours is a lot different than mine. My wire is flat and not twisted like yours. Also, I have a dollop of cement on each of the 6 teeth which makes flossing easier.

I can't get a good photo of it...I tried.

Yep, mine was exactly as Lynn describes hers. It was horrid. Rough and intruding. I liked my old one better.

Yours looks nice and tame!

Mine is one wire.

Mine has a dot of glue on each tooth over the wire. Not too bad. I have a slight lisp with it but I assume I'll I adjust to it in a few days.

It's actually easier to floss with just the two teeth at the ends bonded. You only have to slip the floss through once and then floss the rest as normal. Mine's bonded on each tooth, but that's ok. I don't want those suckers going anywhere.

yeah flossing is really easy... lots of people worry about flossing with permanent retainers but i dont even really see the difference with it only glued to the canines.... i dont know how much of a difference there really is between bonding them to each tooth and bonding them to only the canines.... i have had no movement of the laterals with them bonded to only the canines.

Michelle

funny how they're all different! Here's mine:


gold, twisted, globs of glue!

ya, flossing's no biggy!!

Thanks for the pics! I got to see what my retainer would look like at my consult- another patient was happy for me to take a look! Mine won't be twisted, and it looked like it was bonded across all the teeth.

Not long now.....

jennielee81: I think yours is really pretty!! I love gold - I hope mine looks like that when I eventually get it (in 2 years)!

Thanks Mindy!

What I like most about the gold...aside from it being pretty, it doesn't show even with a BIG, wide, gaping mouth. You have to practically climb into my mouth (as the camera did) to see it.

I wouldn't care if it were stainless either...as I just want something to keep my teeth from moving forEVER.

Jenn

Sportsgrl - yours is really pretty! I hope mine looks like that too. Did you have any problem with it hurting your tounge or messing your speech up?

thanks oceanblue!

no i didnt have any problems with speech. but my tongue would get a little irritated in the beginning because i couldnt control myself from running my tongue over it again and again lol .

michelle

I just got my braces a few weeks ago but during my consult we discussed retainers. I have the option of getting a removable on the bottom too, in addition to the top one. He said that after wearing my retainers constantly for a few months, that I could go to just sleeping with them in, and eventually go to just wearing them for like one night a week, possibly less. Does anyone else have a removable bottom one? And if so, do you have any photos? I'm curious as to what they look like. Thanks

I have a question for anyone... My ortho said I would have a permanent retainer on the top and then she mentioned I would be using a Hawley retainer for six months. Does this mean that I will have a Hawley on the bottom and only the permanent on the top? Or can I have both a Hawley and a permanent one on top? seems ridiculous but I dont know.