wear my retainer every night

So I prove to myself how irresponsible I am by losing my retainers once again. For the third time now, honestly it’s ridiculous and dumb. I’m so frustrated with myself, and my still not perfect teeth. So the next time I have braces, I will pay for them out of my own pocket, and maybe one day I will have, my ideal pearly whites!

Didn’t wear my retainer last night. Damn. :(
There’s always tomorrow though.

Holy moly.

So, I have always been so bad about putting on my retainers that I had to get braces twice because my teeth shifted so much. After getting the braces off a second time around my junior year in high school, I was resolved to wear the retainers every night and actually be a dutiful kid. Psh. Wrong.

I just finished my first year of college and even though I still put on my retainers every blue moon to make sure I can still squeeze them on, it’s barely doing anything for me. Because I barely used them, it hurts so bad to keep them on now that I’ve avoided wearing them at all…in fact, if I don’t get with the program now, I can almost bet that I’ll have to get braces a third time. AGH. I mean, my mom even said to be last week that she was starting to notice a gap forming between my two front teeth. Just…oh my god. No way. It scared me enough to try to make it into a habit. Now. FINALLY.

My progress so far: I started to wear my retainers last Friday night and I’ve continued to wear them every night. I’ve kept them on for the past two days now, taking them off during the day. My teeth are still tender, but they weren’t as bad as the first night. I woke up on Saturday morning with the most painful jaw ever. The tension was so bad that my gums felt like jelly and I felt like I would never be able to swallow whole food again, or open my mouth wider than half an inch.

But man, I’m going strong and steady. It’s my THIRD night with them on, and my teeth have already started shifting back to how they’re supposed to be. It’s only just the beginning though. I hope I continue to keep on going! :D

It’s been really long since I wore my retainer habitually. I still try to do it every once in a while, but it hurts so much I’ve never gotten past one night. What can I do to make it hurt less? Do painkillers help for the first few nights, or would it be better to try something else?

been hit or miss most nights, but doing okay.

Need to get back on track with this. Oddly enough, I accidentally moved my retainer into the bathroom and not next to my nightstand and my success with this goal took a nosedive. So now that it’s back where it should be, no more excuses!!

I’ve been a lot more consistent with this goal. It’s sort of every other day I put it in but I’m just glad I’m doing it. Keeping it on my nightstand literally within arms reach makes a HUGE difference.

Orthodontist tightened my retainer a few days ago and I can definitely tell it’s working. My front tooth that had been poking out sorta sideways is flattening and moving back into place next to its twin. My wonky tooth will probably always be a little wonky but it doesn’t seem as noticable. Hopefully in a few years I’ll get to the point where I only have to wear it once a week and I’ll get into a good lifelong habit. For now wearing it at least 5-6 nights a week has been fine.

Got my new retainer and I’ve been a bit forgetful on wearing it but I’m going to do better!

Retainer got to the point where I couldn’t fit it in my mouth anymore cuz my teeth had gotten too wonky… so my bad. =( But I’m getting a new retainer in a week (with batman on it!) and I plan to start this goal fresh and seriously stick with it.