Ever wanted to straighten your teeth?

Have you ever had braces? If you have, how long was it before you lost your retainer? How long before you stopped wearing it? The answers are widely variable, but common to the vast majority of patients is that soon after the braces came off, the retainer disappeared! I am speaking form personal experience as well!

Orthodontic retention, or wear of the retainer is a lifetime project. Dentists, orthodontists alike are not great communicators when braces have come off. Parents are ecstatic that they do not have to harass the child to be compliant with the dentists recommendations and the teenager, well...... If one does not wear some form of retention, the teeth that have been fabulously moved into alignment will find their way into a concept known as relapse. In other words, your teeth will move. The movement of teeth is a dynamic process, and unless they are fixed into retainers, they will move. Wonder why your teeth move with a bonded retainer? Maybe one of your teeth are no longer bonded or fixed into place. 

Enough about retention. What can a patient do to make them straighter, regardless of whether you have had braces or not? If someone had asked me a couple of years ago about doing this, I would have recommended braces with an orthodontist. Now there is a fantastic tool available to most dentists, Invisalign. The benefits are self evident. No one wishes to wear these orthodontic brackets when they are in the workplace, Invisalign has clear devices to move teeth in a reliable fashion. Oral hygiene can be kept at previous excellent standards, and the treatment produces consistent results. 

Can I afford Invisalign? You may already have some insurance coverage for orthodontics, and the remainder can be easily financed. The one question that still remains is do you want this amazing Invisalign therapy to correct those crowded teeth? See Dr. Partrick for an Invisalign consultation today!