Orthodontic Retention: How to Preserve Your Invisalign® Smile for Life

After your Invisalign® treatment at Kew Gardens Dental P.C., in Queens, New York City, is complete, you can expect a beautiful smile with straight, evenly spaced teeth. When you’ve put months of hard work into wearing your aligners to get your teeth perfectly straight, you definitely want to maintain the results.

By wearing retainers for a period after finishing Invisalign treatment, you can keep your teeth looking great permanently. Board-certified dentist Bella Pinkatz, DDS, explains orthodontic retention and how to keep your Invisalign-enhanced smile for life. 

What is orthodontic retention? 

Seeing your beautiful new smile after taking out your Invisalign aligners for the last time is a thrilling experience. But that doesn’t mean your teeth straightening treatment is finished yet.

Once you’re finished with the aligners, you need to wear retainers initially to ensure your teeth stay in place and retain your results, a practice known as orthodontic retention. These retainers are designed to preserve the Invisalign results for decades to come.

What are retainers?

Retainers are plastic or metal devices fitted to your teeth that you place in your mouth. Unlike Invisalign aligners, retainers are designed to only keep your teeth in place, rather than shift them.

There are two types of retainers, removable and fixed retainers. Our team might recommend one type or a combination of both retainers to maintain your results.

Removable retainers

Removable retainers are made out of soft plastic or a combination of plastic and wire. Similarly to Invisalign aligners, you can remove the retainer from your mouth for activities like eating.

To make your removable retainer, our team creates a dental impression of your teeth using a soft, clay-like substance. We send the impression to a lab, which crafts your custom retainer. 

Fixed retainers 

Fixed retainers are small wire devices that permanently affix to the back of your teeth. They are discreet in appearance and don’t get in the way of your daily activities.

Our team adheres the retainer permanently to your teeth using a special glue. The retainer remains in your mouth until we remove it.

Caring for your teeth with retainers 

It’s important to follow our care instructions for your retainers. Otherwise, you risk your teeth shifting out of place and needing to resume your Invisalign treatment.

If you’ve been given removable retainers, wear them as often as recommended by our team to prevent your teeth from moving. You start out wearing your retainers most of the day and can gradually reduce how often you wear them over time.

To keep your teeth clean and prevent infection, make sure to clean removable retainers every day and keep them in their case when you’re not wearing them. You can clean retainers with a toothbrush and toothpaste and soak them in a special solution.

Brush your fixed retainers when you clean your teeth twice per day. Our team shows you how to floss your teeth to prevent decay and keep your retainer clean.

We’ll monitor your teeth and retainers at a series of follow-up appointments, which decrease in frequency over time. Let our team know if your retainer breaks, is causing you pain, or you’ve noticed your teeth moving.

By wearing retainers after your Invisalign treatment, you ensure you keep your smile the way you want it forever. For more information about Invisalign or orthodontic retention aftercare, contact our team.