Wearing an old retainer?

[BitewingPilot]

Hi all!

I got braces in 2010, had them removed in 2011, and wore a retainer every night until 2012. For the past 2 years I have not been wearing the retainer at all, and have noticed gaps beginning to form between some of my teeth. I still have my old retainer, but when I put it on it is a very tight fit. If I were to begin wearing the retainer every night again, would it realign my teeth, or might it be detrimental because it's so tight?

I was 17 when the retainer was made, I am 20 now. Also my dentist said he began to see my wisdom teeth on X-rays he took about a year ago

 

[Dr. Garrett Fiorenza]

BitewingPilot,

It is not detrimental to wear your retainer. If the teeth have only moved slightly the retainer can correct the slight movement. Teeth continue to drift throughout life so many people are getting permanent retainers to keep the teeth in their final position. I would ask your dentist if a permanent retainer is a good option.

On another note. You should definitely consider getting your wisdom teeth removed. Most often these cause much more tooth movement than the natural drift seen over years and years. From my view it sounds like that is an underlying issue that should be taken care of sooner rather than later. Hope this helps,

Garrett Fiorenza, DDS
Fiorenza Dental Group
www.fiorenzadentalgroup.com
Greenwood, IN

 

[BitewingPilot]

Thank you for the advice!

 

[xyz123]

I was going to start my own thread but noticed this very similar one, so I figure I'll ask here instead...

I have a similar situation except very extreme, haha. I'm 28 now, and I don't even remember what year I last wore my retainer (I'm thinking like 13 years ago?). I have some crowding that I find very annoying with my lower central incisor. It was a problem for me in the past and my retainer has a kind of spring mechanism that pushes one of these teeth into place.

I still do have my old retainer in it's original case, but I'm wondering if I should use it or if it's even safe to use. From what I've read in this forum it seems that it may be worth trying (let me know if I'm wrong), but one thing that weirds me out is that it has some white plaque looking stuff stuck to it in some areas. The stuff is like cement. I'm assuming when I was a lazy high school kid I didn't clean it as well as I should have, oops. I'm assuming any bacteria wouldn't have survived after all these years anyway, but is there anything I should do to clean it?

 

[Zuri Barniv]

Hi, there is probably little harm from at least trying it in, but if it is super-tight and hurts a lot, I would forget it. Getting a new retainer made so it doesn't get any worse is usually not expensive.

The white stuff is probably tartar which caked on over the time you wore it and it's harmless.

With all due respect to Dr. Fiorenza in his post above, wisdom teeth do not cause crowding and there is a lot of research that refutes that old wives tale.
Dr. Barniv