As you get older, your jaw muscles, ligaments, tissues, and fibers surrounding your teeth can weaken. As a result, your teeth can loosen and shift. In some cases, changes to your facial features caused by age can place pressure on your teeth, pushing them inward.
A retainer works by holding the teeth in the right place while the bone and gum heals properly, and moves into position. So, a retainer can reduce the chance of teeth moving around too much after braces, and it can even help encourage teeth back into the right position.
Unfortunately, the natural process of aging can also affect the appearance of your teeth. Even if you were blessed with naturally straight teeth in your younger years or achieved a perfect smile through braces treatment, you may notice your teeth start to shift after age 40.
If you want to straighten your teeth without braces, you may be a good candidate for a retainer, expander, invisible aligners, or doctor-monitored, at-home aligners. The emergence of tools like clear aligners has helped millions of people get the smile they always wanted without the hassle.
There is no safe way to naturally straighten your teeth at home alone without the help of a dentist or orthodontist. Gnawing on sticks, applying rubber bands, or pushing on your teeth with your tongue or your fingers won't improve your smile.
Typically, if we notice unwanted shifting, a simple retainer tweak can solve the issue. If the shifting has occurred for a while, the solution may become more complicated. For instance, certain patients may need to wear a clear aligner every day for several months.
We generally associate orthodontic care with the teen years. However, our teeth don't stop moving as we age. Adults may experience crowding and other problems related to shifting smiles.
Fortunately, after you end your treatment, you have time to ensure they stay that way, as teeth take several years to fully shift back into their old positions. Most orthodontics recommend wearing retainers full-time for nine months to reduce post-braces teeth shifting.
Your teeth shifting is a natural consequence of aging and regular activity like chewing but can lead to problems if not addressed or severe. It's a great idea to check in with your dental professional to see if your bite or teeth need any treatment; otherwise, a proper dental routine is your best bet.
It all depends on how long you have neglected to wear your retainer and how much your teeth have shifted during that time. You can try to put your aligner on to see if it still fits. If it still fits snugly, it may help to undo minor shifting that has occurred in the last time you wore it.
So, Will You Have to Wear Your Retainer Forever? In short, the answer is yes. Previously, patients were told they only had to wear the retainer for a year or two, but advancements in the field of orthodontics have proven that optimal results rest heavily on lifelong wear.
Teeth shifting – it's perfectly normal to experience this as you age. Unfortunately, it's not always comfortable, nor is it healthy. When your teeth shift and your bite changes, your dental health is in jeopardy. You can experience more dental issues, including dental decay, and gum disease.
So yes, teeth move overnight, though the change might be imperceptible at first. Regardless of dental decay or bad habits, our teeth usually shift over time, resulting in gaps, misalignment, and crookedness. It takes time to notice a changing appearance.
This is called malocclusion and is often due to migrating teeth. Like over and underbites, malocclusion can cause a cascade of negative effects in addition to tooth loss.
Over time, ligaments, gum tissue, and bone start to weaken, causing teeth to shift more easily. Generally speaking, lower teeth begin to shift before upper teeth and bump against your upper teeth when you're chewing. This contact can wear away enamel and cause your top teeth to shift forward.
Repeated or constant force applied to the surfaces of the teeth can cause them to spread out or move and can lead to changes in the jaw's alignment. Bruxism, also known as grinding, places tension on the teeth that over time changes the position and structure of the teeth.
The tooth may correct itself on its own, but even if it doesn't it should still fall out when the adult tooth is ready to come in. The exception is when it is pushed deeper into the gums, or intruded, in a manner that puts the adult tooth at risk. In this case, we would extract the luxated tooth.
You would also not be able to straighten all the teeth that need straightening. Furthermore, life would more than likely get in the way of your teeth pushing technique. More likely than not, pushing on your teeth would not produce any results and would waste a lot of your time.
The cheapest way to straighten your teeth is generally with at-home aligners.
\ \ If you had your dental work done when you were a teenager, and you wore your retainer for 10 years after treatment, you may be able to stop wearing the device if your dentist approves. If you had your teeth adjusted as an adult, you'll wear your retainer for life.
After about a week or so, it may be difficult to get your retainer to fit back into your mouth. If you do not wear your retainer for a long period of time, your teeth may end up reverting back to their initial positions.
Overall, you'll be back where you started. If you've stopped wearing your retainer for long enough, you'll probably need to repeat your orthodontic treatment. Your orthodontist will need to fully assess your teeth to determine how much your teeth have moved.