Metal Mouth Message Board

Hello all!

I've searched pages upon pages and couldn't seem to find anyone who answered this question before. So I thought I'd ask one more time to see if within the past few weeks someone has experienced this.

I am wondering what functional purposes Essix retainers have aside from keeping teeth in place. I've heard that they can make minor adjustments in the retainers but is it also possible to push teeth forward or backward?

The reason why I ask is because while I have a potential debanding date I don't feel as if my bite is all there. Essentially the problem is that my front lower eight teeth tend to impact my upper teeth before my molars touch. So I am wondering if Essix can push these teeth back a little.

I would ask my ortho but we both weren't aware of this problem because I would always wear my elastics and didn't know that this was a problem until I went to work without them (forgot) and realized this after a couple of hours. This happened after I last saw my ortho.

What do you guys think? Is it possible that no matter how much/long you wear the elastics there is a point where they can do no more? But back to the original question...did anyone out there have retainers that could push teeth back?

Thanks guys....

oh wow I didn't know that! For some reason I thought Essix had the same effect as Invisalign (probably because of the way it looks) so I had assumed it had more functionality.

Thanks... I know that they are going with the Essix so I will definitely bring this up since they had mentioned I may deband at the next appt!!!

*sigh* got it. Thanks meryaten

if anyone else has any experience/stories to share please do!

[quote="sunflower99"] Essentially the problem is that my front lower eight teeth tend to impact my upper teeth before my molars touch. So I am wondering if Essix can push these teeth back a little.

Is it possible that no matter how much/long you wear the elastics there is a point where they can do no more? But back to the original question...did anyone out there have retainers that could push teeth back? [quote]
It is my understanding that if your back teeth do not meet completely after debanding, that they tend to use hawleys vs essix retention, because the hawley will allow "settling" more than the essix. You may want to ask. I had the same problem at debanding and yes, eventually your teeth will move toward each other more and more on their own but it takes a while. Just like if you had a lower tooth missing, the opposing tooth would eventually erupt downward.

Of course there are exceptions, I believe, Fryelight posted that her one upper canine tooth that had to be brought down quite a bit during treatment, after debanding, it went back up again and she needed braces again, but that was an extreme case I would think.

If when you say, can "essix push teeth back" you mean into the bone, no, they can't do that, thats why orthos tell patients that Invisalign has limitations in just aligning and closing small gaps.

You will find that after your braces have been off a while, you will start thinking less and less about your bite and you will get use to the new bite. Thats what happened to me.

Thanks Meryaten

Though I don't know any more about it then you stated. The orthodontist put a dimple into the (lower essex) retainer with a pliar type tool and it nudged one tooth a little. Once it was in place, the ortho bonded a retainer on my lower 6 and I put that retainer away for ever.