Hello,

I completed my Invisalign treatment back in 2022. After which, I had permanent wire retainers put on the front 4-5 teeth on both the top and bottom. I also got 4 sets of the Viveras for night time use (just thick plastic retainers).

For about the first year, I was decently good at wearing the retainers at night and after 6ish months, I switched to the next set.

Then for the latter half of 2023 I got pretty bad. I’d wear them make 1-2 nights a week. They were tight, but nothing too bad after 1-2 hours of wear.

Then, in January 2024, I completely stopped wearing them. I saw my dentist last week and they said although my bottom teeth hadn’t shifted, a spacing behind my top canines had increased 1-2mm.

So that night, I found my last set of unused retainers and put them on. My bottom ones fit just fine, but the top almost didn’t even go on at first. I managed to force them on and they very painfully tight. I could only wear them for about 15 mins at first.

Since then, everyday I’ve tried to put them on longer and longer. I’d put them on for about 30mins - 1 hr then take them out for a 2-3 hours. They’d fit in my mouth but I’d have to bite down on them for a little before they would stay on.

Everyday since, it’s gotten easier to put them on for longer and longer. They’re still pretty tight, but over the past two days I’ve been able to just slip them on and deal with the tightness.

I put them on right now too and think it’s the first night I can sleep with them on.

What I’m wondering is, have my teeth really shift back to reduce that 1-2mm gap/ will do fix it with continued reuse?

OR, have these retainers just shift my teeth back a little and have now been deformed to fit my current teeth?

I can ask my dentist to do a scan when I see them, but that’s not going to be for another 3 months.