Bonded Retainers
To maintain your straight teeth you may have had a “bonded retainer” placed. This is a wire commonly placed on the inside of the lower 6 bottom teeth and/or on the inside of your upper 2 or 4 teeth. These bonded retainers are a necessity in the retention process of your treatment. They are carefully placed to ensure they can be cleaned around – please inform us right away if you are having difficulty flossing around the wires. These retainers are also designed so that a dental hygienist can easily clean around them. With proper technique a bonded retainer should not be damaged during a regular dental cleaning, however unfortunately it can happen. We encourage you to discuss your bonded retainers with the hygienist at your dentist’s office prior to a cleaning. We also encourage you to check your bonded retainers immediately after a cleaning to ensure that they are still intact. A broken bonded retainer should be addressed quickly to ensure that teeth do not shift. If you need to visit our office for a repair a fee may be applied.
A bonded retainer, is also known as a “permanent retainer”, despite its name is not a permanent retainer. This means that without proper care it may break loose. You should be able to eat anything you want, but you must avoid chewing very hard or sticky foods around it (so chew these foods with your back teeth). If it falls out completely, please keep it and bring it in so that we can reduce your replacement costs. If it is lost there will be a fee to replace or repair it.
Please do not hesitate to contact us right away if a problem arises with your bonded retainer. Failure to do so can lead to shifting of your teeth.
