Retention appliances
- To ensure optimal stability at the end of a treatment, orthodontists all use retention appliances that need to be worn as prescribed to be efficient.
- Even if the majority of results are usually stable, there can be a certain relapse in the position of one or several teeth for reasons beyond our or your control.
- If relapse is significant, which is not frequent, re-evaluation will be necessary to determine if additional measures must be taken to slow down the evolution or if other corrections are indicated.
- Many types of appliances exist but the choice of the retention appliance is made by the orthodontist depending on the treated malocclusion, the results obtained, and the evaluation of the potential for relapse of corrections.
Can retention appliances correct teeth?
- NO, these appliances are passive appliances that do not have any active components (except a few exceptions) that can move or correct teeth. They are aimed at maintaining the corrections obtained rather than correcting the position of teeth.
- Some variations of appliances exist to make modifications in order to achieve very slight dental movements when there are slight relapses or very slight corrections to complete when the corrective appliances are removed but this could not replace corrective fixed appliances (braces, multi-bracket appliances) to correct dental malpositions.
