Metal Mouth Message Board

So, one month out of braces and have a fixed bottom retainer.

Today I was eating a sandwich for lunch with some pretty hard toasted bread, biting in with all my front teeth. Suddenly I felt something strange in my fixed retainer and immediately feared I'd messed up its attachment to one of my bottom incisors. I forgot I was supposed to watch eating hard things! I was so careful in braces, but I have been enjoying the freedom of being debraced.

After lunch, I rinsed my mouth and looked with dental mirror, couldn't see anything out of place with the retainer. I gently prodded it with a dental pick, and it didn't move. I flossed all around it, and nothing really seemed amiss, but it still feels a bit odd and like it shifted on one tooth somehow.

My guess is that I bent it slightly, though it is still attached. I'm wondering how serious a problem this is. Normally, I would just make an appointment and have my ortho check it out, but I am out of the US for the winter, so that is not an option. I'd have to go to a dentist here in Mexico and hope that they could tell if something was wrong with a retainer they did not install.

Any advice or experiences to offer? Of course I will be monitoring the situation, and if it turns out to be loose, I will find and go to a dentist, of course.

I should mention that I also have an Essix retainer, and it still fits fine over top of the fixed.

Thanks!

ETA should have looked at the date before clicking send.... Guessing you have it figured out by now.

Wait until you get home. If everything is still in place AND you have an Essix that goes over the top of it you will be completely fine.

Even if it's broken; I'd wait until you get to your regular ortho because it's just a backup to the Essix

Thanks. Fortunately, it has stayed attached, and yes, I do have an Essix that goes over it that I am wearing full-time. The permanent doesn't feel as strange as it did when I first bent it, so I guess it is okay for now. I was slightly panicking at first, but now I have calmed down since there seem to be no unexpected or ill effects. Whew!