Do I Really Have to Wear a Retainer…Forever?

If you survived a year or two of adolescence (or perhaps adulthood) with braces, you probably remember the pure joy of finally getting them off. That excitement might have faded, however, after your orthodontist handed you a retainer and casually mentioned you’d need to wear it every night—indefinitely.

But do you really, truly need to use it for the rest of your life—or is that just a little scare tactic to keep your teeth in line? To set the record straight, we asked Zainab Mackie, DDS, a Detroit-based dentist with orthodontic expertise, for her take. The short answer: Yes, you really do need to keep sleeping with your retainer for good.

As annoying as it can be to deal with a chunk of plastic in your mouth, retainers are necessary for maintaining your results after braces or Invisalign. That’s because these orthodontic appliances aren’t permanent fixes. “Naturally, your teeth will continue to move,” Dr. Mackie tells SELF. So a retainer works by applying gentle pressure to hold them in their new positions, and prevent them from slipping back to their original alignment.

Now, you might be wondering, Shouldn’t just a few solid years of wearing a retainer be enough? Is forever really necessary? Well technically, your teeth are always susceptible to shifts due to factors like grinding them at night (“the friction can create physical trauma, causing them to move,” per Dr. Mackie) as well as natural changes in your mouth structure as you age. And this risk is much higher for people who had braces or Invisalign: Research shows that teeth naturally want to revert to their old positions after orthodontic treatment.

Before you freak out, though, know that these changes don’t happen overnight—meaning, it’s not the end of the world if you occasionally skip your retainer for a few days or even a week. That said, if you decide to ditch it for good, you’ll likely notice your original alignment issues (like gaps, perhaps, or crooked teeth) creeping back. (And don’t just take our word for it: A few of these people learned this lesson the hard way, and had to get braces again as a result!)