For Shame, Wear Your Retainer!

Allow me to introduce you to a Frenemy of mine – my retainer.  We’ve known each other for over a decade, and though I find discomfort in his presence, I’ve always needed his guidance over the years.

Vintage 2001 Glow-in-theDark Retainer

Sadly, we have grown apart in the past year.  Only recently did I try to rekindle our relationship, and found that we were no longer a match.

My teeth have shifted enough that the bottom row is perfectly designed to chomp into my lip on a regular basis, and they’ll only continue moving as time passes.  After much deliberation and bitten lips, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’ll need braces again.

Next week I’ll be a patient yet again at my orthodontist’s office, getting normal braces on the bottom row, and clear retainers for the top.  Papa, if you’re reading this, I’m sorry I didn’t wear my retainer more often.  A lot of work was put into aligning my teeth, and I squandered that effort.

When I went back to my orthodontist’s office to have my teeth re-evaluated, I felt so old.  Instead of checking in with the front secretary, patients now use a finger print scanner.  This is not a joke.  I clumsily pressed my finger on the scanner thinking, How in the world would they have my finger prints on file after all these years?  Of course I received an error message that I wasn’t registered, and had to talk to the secretary anyway.  It’s fascinating to see how times have changed since I had braces so many years ago.

Maggie a la Braces, 1999

For those of you out there that suffered through braces and now have a retainer that is aging, please learn from my mistake.  Even if you only wear it once a week, you can rekindle that relationship of guard vs. teeth and maybe avoid having a second round of braces.

Smile!

~M