Once you stop using Invisalign, you'll need to wear orthodontic retainers to keep your teeth in place while new bone is deposited. It takes between 9 and 12 hours. It takes 9 to 12 months for the body to build up enough bone to stabilize the teeth. Kathryn Swan, a board-certified orthodontist, recommends that everyone wear a retainer after completing Invisalign treatment.
As with traditional braces, wearing a retainer after completing Invisalign helps you maintain a beautifully straightened smile. If you don't wear a retainer after completing treatment, your teeth will change position slowly. Right after treatment, you will be told to wear your retainers for 12 to 22 hours a day for about six months. From there, you can switch to using them only at night, which will allow you to spend the day without worrying about them.
Around 12 months, you can switch to wearing your retainers three to five nights a week. So while you should use them consistently throughout your life, you won't need to use them “forever”. In most cases where your teeth begin to move after Invisalign surgery, it will be several years before you can begin to notice changes in your smile. This means that you'll have to wear them regularly for the rest of your life if you want to make sure your teeth don't move.
During Invisalign treatment, the jaw would have softened or disappeared (a process called resorption) so that the teeth could move to their final positions. Invisalign was made available to the public in the late 1990s and transformed the field of orthodontics forever. Based in the Poole and Bournemouth area, he has a strong interest in orthodontics and cosmetic dentistry and is a certified Invisalign provider. Invisalign offers a subtle and comfortable way to correct crooked teeth within 6 to 24 months, depending on the severity of the case.
At first, having to wear a retainer after completing Invisalign treatment may seem a little annoying. However, regardless of how long it takes to get straight teeth with Invisalign, your teeth are now perfect and you'll want to keep them that way. After a couple of months of wearing a retainer for 22 hours a day, the person's teeth will finally get used to their new alignment. During the movement phase of the teeth, the jawbone becomes spongy, allowing the teeth to straighten and this bone takes some time to harden again and for the teeth to sit firmly in their new place.
This movement is especially likely in the first few months after finishing Invisalign treatment. It's important to understand that even with the use of a retainer after treatment, your teeth may move slowly over time, so it's important to have regular dental checkups to check your teeth and make sure they're straight. A fixed retainer is a thin wire that connects to the back of the six front teeth, from a canine tooth to a canine tooth.
