I went to the dentist on last, last Friday. Oh, before that for anyone who doesn't know, I wore braces for 3 years during my high school time(Ugh. Painful period). Well, I was thinking of taking out my retainer because my previous dentist (back in my hometown) told me before that I can take out my fixed retainer on my upper teeth after 5 years. So, it has already been 5 years and I am kinda excited to take it out. You know like saying goodbye to my teenage life.
But, the dentist told me, "Do you know what happened after you take it out? The teeth will still shift their position even after 5 years. I advised you to take it out only after you get married, or graduate or have kids, etc. You can take it out, but I do not know how wide the gap between your teeth would be." Since I already have a little gap between my two front teeth, I cannot imagine what would happen if I took it out. Of course, the dentist gave me two options: either I stick with my fixed and permanent retainer forever and have to get my teeth clean by professional twice in a year or I can take the retainer out but I have to wear those removable retainer every night for the rest of my life :S I used to wear that for both my upper and lower teeth but it gets too uncomfortable and painful that I stop using it. In the end, I stick with my built-in retainer for now. I still don't know about its future.
This is what a fixed/permanent retainer looks like: (I found all the images on the internet, I don't want you all to feel gross out from my own teeth! Hahaha.)
(Photo taken from khanorthodontics.co.za)
And this is what a removable retainer looks like:
(Photo taken from www.theorthodonticclinic.co.uk)
So, I guess I will be stuck with retainer for the rest of my life. Bummer, huh? :(
Updated on 2017: My built-in retainer broke again... I have change to removable retainer. Along the years my removable retainer broke more than 4-5 times? You know how much money I spend on it? In the end I decided to give up on retainer and just let my teeth freee. The teeth did shift a little but it doesn't make much differences.