I was a little concerned the orthodontist would say no because my teeth seemed to be less straight than they had previously been, but he was fine when I got there.
He commented that it is unusual to put a fixed retainer onto the top set of teeth, people usually have it on the bottom only. I have found that my bottom ones have had minimal movement, I haven't even had to have my retainer adjusted to correct anything.
The appointment took about 30 mins, he cleaned and dried the backs of my teeth, then threaded 3 pieces of dental floss through each gap of the front 6 teeth. After attaching the adhesive and the wire to the first one (it was the adhesive that is set with uv light) he put the wire to the next tooth and pulled it tight to the teeth with the dental floss before setting that one. Repeated this for all the 6 teeth on the top. Painless and not too uncomfortable surprisingly.
He then checked that the bottom teeth didn't rub when my mouth closed and that there were no trap points or sharp edges.
So that's it, permanent retainer fixed, no more plastic tray at night! It is a very strange thing to have, no more visits to the orthodontist, no more morning slime with the plastic tray. lovely!! I have put a picture on for you to see what it looks like.
Although my teeth are not perfectly in line, they are 100% better than they were in my opinion and the slight imperfections are just me and reflect my personality!
So my journey has finished, my road to a great smile is complete and I am happy with the result and apart from having to have my teeth professionally cleaned every 6 months, there is no change to my eating or speaking.
Thank you for sharing my journey and I hope that the information I have given will help people with their journeys too.
unless I have any further problems to report, this will be my last update, woohoo!
