Photo courtesy of junior Talia Doane
Those at San Luis Obispo High School who have had braces know that the journey isn’t completely over when you get them taken off. The next step to keeping teeth straight and keeping braces off, is wearing a retainer. This however, can be a pain in the butt.
Wearing retainers is one of the most annoying things after getting braces off, but is needed and should not be taken lightly!
From personal experience, wearing retainers can be awful. I got my braces off years ago and only wore my retainers for about a year after I got them off. I decided to make the not very smart decision to stop wearing my retainers at night, resulting in me having to shove them in recently. This hurt, a lot.
While braces make your teeth straight and get everything in place, retainers are “responsible for maintaining changes to the teeth after the braces have come off. If not worn on a regular basis, the teeth have the potential to shift back to where they once were, rendering all of that time spent with your braces useless.”
“I have to wear my retainers or else my straight teeth will become crooked again. Once you stop wearing them and try to use them again, it hurts and makes your teeth super sore. I always wear my retainers because I don’t want my teeth to go back to being crooked and it’s better for your teeth to wear them,” said junior Brittney Sagredo.
So, don’t be dumb. Wear your retainers.
