Metal Mouth Message Board

Hi,

I've almost finished wearing an Inman aligner and am at the stage where I have to pick the method of retention. My dentist has given me three options:
1) fixed / bonded wire at the back of my front teeth
2) essix retainer - to wear every night forever
3) fixed / bonded wire PLUS essix retainer

I am very confused as have read good / bad things about both. I am so excited to get rid of my braces that the Essix option seems good because I won't have to feel wires etc in my mouth anymore, but I'm worried I'll lose it / it might snap, and my teeth will go back to crookedsville.

Help/advice would be much appreciated! X

Depends on how much you care about keeping everything in place. I have fixed top and bottom plus Essex on top for 2 years now. Everything has stayed in place. You do need to make sure your bonded stays intact. If it breaks, you need to get fixed immediately.

Great - thanks very much for your advice! I'm thinking of getting both now too, can't have these teeth moving back after all this good work!

It depends on whether you've had interproximal cavities or not, since having a fixed lingual retainer will make it harder to floss since you can't remove it, whereas you can easily remove Essix retainers when you brush and floss your teeth and put them back in when you're done. Not being able to floss efficiently increases the risk of developing gingivitis and cavities. I've personally had some interproximal cavities in the past, so fixed retainers aren't an option for me.

I have the fixed retainer and can confirm it is very inconvenient to floss those teeth. It’s basically like flossing with braces again