Retainers

Those dental braces you wore as a teenager really did wonders for your smile. Unfortunately, years of wear and tear and forgetting to wear that bothersome retainer have caused your teeth to move a bit, leaving you to wonder whether dental braces are necessary again. An orthodontic appliance known as a spring retainer may keep you from spending more time on yet another dental braces experience.

Spring retainers are a common orthodontic treatment for patients whose front teeth have slightly shifted. Most orthodontic retainers keep teeth in place after treatment -- spring retainers are removable orthodontic appliances that not only preserve your teeth but can actually help make them straight again!

Dental retainers are meant to prevent orthodontic relapse (when teeth shift out of place after dental braces are removed). Most orthodontic relapses happen to lower front teeth, where patients tend to disregard wearing a retainer. Originally designed to fix this problem, spring retainers are currently used to reverse the movement of both upper and lower anterior teeth. Spring retainers consist of a wire and acrylic frame that extends from cuspid to cuspid to force your four front teeth back into position.