People often use to think of retainers as a chore. Making that, often tiresome, middle step between your aligners removed and that precious moment when you can pop up your big shining smile, retainers tend to pick up a lot of indifference and neglect.
And yet, these dental products are integral elements in keeping your teeth healthy, strong, and nice. And they perform the most efficiently the more work and care you put into them.
Well, this is exactly what we are going to cover in this article. Your road to full dental recovery is just one step away. Let’s see what you can do to take care of your retainers and make this path if only a bit shorter.
Be mindful of what you eat
Yeah, this compromise is not that popular, but it does make the retainer maintenance much simpler nevertheless. So, when it comes to dental recovery, it is important to remember that you can’t have your cake and eat it… Literally, if your retainers can be removed this one will be a bit easier on you. But, if they are permanently bonded to your teeth be sure to stay away as far as possible from hard or crunchy foods, high-acidity foods and drinks, and, sticky foods like caramel or even soda. Keeping in mind you want to keep your teeth healthy, use this sabbatical to sweets and soda in the same stroke.
Be sure to wear the retainers properly
The goal of retainers is to keep your teeth in the proper position and help their recovery. So, it is in your best interest to wear them as much as possible. But, that doesn’t have to mean you have to insist on the 24/7 schedule. On the contrary! In some cases, orthodontic devices may do you more harm than good. As for the cases when you should probably keep these devices away, examples that first cross the mind are when you are eating, when you are participating in sports events, during the orthodontist specifications, and, during cleaning. You can see how these situations can prove to be tricky.
Make maintenance one of your top priorities
Just like your teeth, retainers need to be cleaned on a daily basis. Doing so will contribute to dental recovery, fresh breath, and overall oral hygiene. Fortunately, retainers’ maintenance is not really something overly challenging. As a matter of fact, most of the basic cleaning duties can be pulled off with nothing more than a simple toothpaste brush job, frequent soaking in the mouthwash e, and simple flossing after extended use. Also, we would like to point out that, when they are not in use, retainers should be placed either into the mouthwash we mentioned above or in protective cases.
Stay in touch with medical professionals
Making the most use of your retainers is not all about having them on 24/7. Let’s say they are doing the best job in the world and your teeth are recovering and falling back into their place. Well, if you want them to keep doing so, they need to be readjusted and you need to keep track of the usage frequency. So, be sure to get in touch with experienced professionals. If you are, for instance, living in Queensland look for the best dental lab in Brisbane and nearby areas. From diagnostics to follow-up visits, experienced orthodontic professionals will make your retainers journey that much easier.
Keep the retainers well-protected
Yeah, this may sound like a no-brainer, but you would be surprised by the sheer amount of ways in which the regular retainers could be damaged. How about leaving these items in the cars? Heats are, as of lately, unbearable even outside the flaming vehicles. You can only imagine what the retainers would look like after a couple of hours of boiling inside them. For what it’s worth you could get similar results even under direct sunlight. So, as a rule of thumb, try to stay away from anything too hot. Leaving the retainers near the windows, stoves or heather is a sure way to make them go to waste.
Lift your spirit up
Last but not least, we would like to remind you that one of the main reasons why people simply quit using the retainers or take poor care of them (which puts out the same results) is the sheer lack of motivation. This is the moment when you should take a break and honestly assess the challenges you are going to face. And there are challenges you are going to face. You are going to deal with the extra saliva, slurred speech, added chores, and other small hurdles. But, they are only small hurdles. Knowing these obstacles diminish nothing of your personality will help you put them aside and push forward.
Well, we hope this short breakdown gave you a better idea about all the challenges you are going to face with your first-time retainers experience as well as propose a couple of neat tricks that will help you to make this journey… Well, a bit shorter and more enjoyable. After all, the end of this road is marked by one big healthy smile, so we say it’s more than worth dealing with a couple of small hurdles along the way. The things we talked about should make even these obstacles far easier to overcome.
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