At Smiles Orthodontic Practice we aim to address the orthodontic treatment without extracting teeth.
Commonly we use expansion appliances to widen the top jaw to create space to align the teeth.
Unfortunately not all treatments can be addressed without extracting teeth.
Smiles Orthodontic Practice recommends the teeth be permanently retained once the orthodontic treatment is complete. This is achieved by bonding permanent retaining wires (small metal wires) behind the upper and lower six front teeth and wearing clear upper and lower removable retainer plates at nights.
Retention is a life time requirement to ensure your teeth do not move, so ideally the wires should remain bonded behind the upper and lower six front teeth permanently and the plates should be worn every nightly for the rest of your life.
Below are photos of the retaining wires and clear removable plates.
Often people are unaware that their teeth are moving throughout their life. This is similar to “getting grey hair and wrinkles” it happens to everyone and is part of the aging process.
Retaining the end result will require unavoidable, lifetime maintenance but this is minimal in terms of time and cost versus a second course of orthodontic treatment later in life.
