Retainers After Braces or Aligners

Who needs one

According to the American Dental Association's patient information, braces treatment is followed by a period of wearing a retainer³. A retainer is used after clear aligner treatment too.

Points to discuss when choosing

A Cochrane review could not draw firm conclusions about one kind of retainer over another (see below). So the choice rests on your teeth and on practical points. Discuss these with your treating dentist:

• Will you wear a removable retainer as instructed? It holds your teeth only while it is in your mouth.
• Can you clean around a fixed wire every day? The teeth and gums around it need careful daily cleaning.
• Who will deal with a problem where you live? A fixed wire that comes loose needs an appointment to repair it. A lost removable retainer has to be remade. If you live in the UK, ask who would do each of these there (see below).

When something else comes first

If your teeth have already moved after orthodontic treatment some time ago, ask a dentist to assess them before a new retainer is made. This page does not cover treatment to straighten teeth again.

A retainer is used after braces (including ceramic braces) and after clear aligner treatment. There are two main kinds. Ask your treating dentist whether one kind or both are planned for you, and for which teeth.

Fixed (bonded) retainers

A fixed retainer is a thin wire glued to the back of the front teeth. You cannot take it out, so it works without you having to remember it. But the wire can come loose from a tooth (see below), and the teeth and gums around it need careful cleaning.

Removable retainers

Removable retainers include clear plastic retainers that fit over the teeth. Another type is a plate with a wire across the front teeth, often called a Hawley retainer. You take a removable retainer out to clean it, and it works only while you wear it. An NHS hospital leaflet on clear retainers warns its patients that not wearing it as instructed could result in failure of the orthodontic treatment⁴.

Is one kind better?

A Cochrane review of retention covered 47 studies. It has not shown fixed or removable retainers to be clearly better¹ at keeping teeth straight. Each kind has pros and cons in breakages, comfort and gum health. The certainty of the evidence is low or very low, and most studies measured results after less than a year. The review did not include retention after clear aligners. Your treating dentist explains which kind is planned for you, and why.

Your treating dentist recommends which retainer you have and when it is fitted, agrees this with you, and tells you how long to wear it. This page does not set out the clinic's own routine for retainers. Your written plan should state it: the type of retainer, when it is fitted, and who checks it afterwards.

Your treating dentist decides how long you wear the retainer² and how many hours a day. The schedule can differ from one person to the next. This page gives no wear times: research has not set one schedule that suits everyone. Follow the schedule you are given, and ask for it in writing. Do not stop wearing your retainer, or wear it less, unless your treating dentist advises it.

• Is it for life? According to a 2018 UK opinion piece, the British Orthodontic Society (BOS) has given patients the message that retainers should be worn for life⁵. The author of the piece, a dentist, argues that research does not support this general advice. In his view, most retention studies lasted 6 to 24 months⁵. There is no evidence-based fixed length of time.
• Putting it in. Put a removable retainer in carefully. One NHS leaflet says a clear retainer should click down over your teeth⁴.
• Why it differs between people. How far teeth move back varies. A small study looked at closed gaps between the two upper front teeth. A wider gap before treatment was one of the factors linked to a gap opening again⁶.
• If you have not worn it for a while. If a removable retainer no longer fits, do not force it into place. Contact your treating dentist and ask whether to keep wearing it in the meantime.

Speech and comfort

A review looked at speech with all kinds of orthodontic appliances, including retainers. Most changes in speech could return to normal within weeks⁷. A lisp on the 's' sound, however, sometimes lasted more than 3 months. Retainers with a plate and wire (Hawley retainers) were among the appliances with a clear effect on speech⁷. The evidence in this review is of low quality.

Comfort is one of the ways fixed and removable retainers differ (see above). If a retainer rubs, has a sharp edge or makes a sore spot, contact your treating dentist; it may need adjusting.

Removable retainers

• Take the retainer out to clean it. One NHS hospital leaflet advises cleaning a clear plastic retainer in cold water with a soft toothbrush⁴, then rinsing it well.
• Do not use hot water. According to the same leaflet, it makes the retainer go out of shape so that it no longer fits⁴.
• Ask your treating dentist which cleaning products suit your own retainer.
• Keep the retainer clean: the leaflet notes that a dirty retainer can damage your teeth⁴. Brush your teeth before you put it back in.
• Sticky and very chewy foods can damage the retainer⁴. The leaflet also warns that fizzy drinks will damage your teeth⁴. Ask your treating dentist whether to take the retainer out when you eat and drink.

Storage

• Whenever the retainer is out of your mouth, keep it in its case.
• When you travel, take the retainer and its case with you, with your written instructions.

Fixed retainers

• Brush around the wire and along the gumline every day, and clean between the teeth under the wire, as your treating dentist shows you. Ask which brush or floss to use.

Check-ups with your own dentist

Keep having regular check-ups with your own dentist in the UK. How often you need them is set according to your risk of decay and gum disease⁸. The NHS hospital leaflet quoted above also tells its patients to continue to attend their dentist for regular check-ups⁴.

Benefits

• A retainer is used to hold the teeth in the position reached at the end of treatment.
• A fixed retainer works without you having to remember it. A removable retainer can be taken out to clean it and your teeth.

Limits

After orthodontic treatment, teeth tend to move back¹ towards where they started. A retainer is used to hold them, but it has limits.

• No method has been shown to hold teeth completely still for life. There is no evidence-based fixed length of time for wearing a retainer (above).
• Long-term research is limited. In the Cochrane review of retention, most studies measured results after less than a year¹. The authors call for studies of at least two years.
• A gap between the front teeth can open again. A small study looked back at the records of 30 patients whose gap between the two upper front teeth (the central incisors) had been closed. On average 5 to 6 years after retention stopped, the gap had reopened in 6 in every 10 patients⁶. The reopening averaged 0.49 mm across the whole group and 0.78 mm in the patients whose gap reopened⁶. This rate does not apply to other gaps between teeth; gaps between the central incisors and the teeth next to them reopened less often. These figures come from a published study, not from the clinic's own records.
• After clear aligners. Whether teeth are more or less likely to move back after aligners than after fixed braces has not been studied enough⁹. A 2024 systematic review found only 3 studies on this, all of them with Invisalign.

Risks and drawbacks

• A fixed wire can come loose. In studies, bond failure with wires made of several twisted strands has been reported at between 12 and 50 per cent¹⁰. This is not a single rate but the lowest and highest values reported in different studies; the quality of the evidence is low. These figures come from published studies, not from the clinic's own records.
• A removable retainer can be lost or broken, or stop fitting. It also holds the teeth only while you wear it.
• Comfort and gums. Fixed and removable retainers differ in comfort and in their effect on the gums. The evidence on these trade-offs is of low or very low certainty (see the types above).
• Speech. Some retainers change speech at first (see wearing your retainer, above).

• A fixed wire that comes loose. If the wire comes away from a tooth, that tooth is no longer held. Contact your treating dentist, or the dentist who looks after your retainer in the UK. Do not wait for a planned check-up.
• A removable retainer that is damaged or no longer fits. An NHS hospital leaflet asks patients to get in touch as soon as possible⁴ if the retainer is damaged. Do not force a retainer that no longer fits. Keep the pieces and take photographs; they help whoever replaces it.
• A lost retainer. While a removable retainer is missing, it is not holding your teeth. Contact your treating dentist promptly. Ask whether a new retainer can be made from an earlier scan, or whether new records are needed.
• If your teeth seem to have moved. Tell your treating dentist. They explain what can be done.

If you live in the UK, each of these needs a plan agreed before treatment ends (see below).

Your treatment is provided by our clinic in Antalya, Turkey. The appointments in Antalya are carried out by the clinic's dentists. On this page, "we" means that clinic.

Orthodontics is one of the nine dental specialties set by law in Turkey¹¹. Turkish law ties the specialist title to a specialist certificate¹¹, issued and registered by the Ministry of Health¹². In the UK, a dentist may call themselves a specialist only if they are on the GDC's specialist list¹³. A dentist does not have to be on the list¹³ to provide orthodontic treatment, but only those on it may use the title.

Ask who will fit your retainer, who will check it and who will repair or replace it. Ask what their titles are, where they qualified, and whether the dentist planning your retention holds the Turkish orthodontics specialty. Ask for the answers in writing.

Retention goes on long after the braces come off or the last aligner is worn. If you live in the UK, it happens mostly at home, far from the clinic in Antalya. So before your treatment ends, the practical question is who looks after the retainer there.

Check-ups

Ask who checks the retainer and your teeth after treatment, roughly how often, and where. It could be a return visit to Antalya, a dentist or orthodontist near your home, or photographs you send, or a mix. A UK dentist has to agree to take part, and some may not want to. Ask which dentist is responsible for your retention.

The UK dental regulator, the GDC, states that some care can be given safely at a distance. For other stages, though, a face-to-face interaction or a physical clinical assessment will be necessary¹⁴ for patient safety. For orthodontics, the GDC adds that at present there is no effective substitute for a physical, clinical examination¹⁴ as the basis of the dentist's assessment. We have found no research comparing checks by photograph with a check-up in the chair, so this page does not present them as a replacement.

A fixed wire that comes loose

A loose or broken wire is re-glued, repaired or replaced at an appointment. If you live in the UK, that means a dentist there or a trip to Antalya. Ask before treatment ends who does this, how quickly and who pays. Ask your own dentist in advance whether they would repair it, and on what terms.

A lost or broken removable retainer

Before treatment ends, ask in writing:

1. Who makes a replacement, and where: in Antalya, or a dentist in the UK?
2. Can it be made from the scan already taken, or are new records needed?
3. How is a replacement sent, and how long does it take to arrive?
4. Who pays for a replacement, and is a spare retainer part of the plan?
5. What should you do while you wait?

Records to bring home

Ask for a written record of your retainer. It should say whether it is fixed or removable, what it is made of and which teeth a fixed wire is glued to. It should also give your wear schedule. Ask whether you can have a copy of the digital scan it was made from, if one was taken. These help a dentist in the UK to check, repair or replace it. If you do not have them, do not put off an appointment; the dentist may take new records. In Turkey, the health tourism regulation entitles international patients to an itemised bill. On request, they also get free copies of the records of the materials used, the tests and the imaging¹⁵.

Having retention done in the UK instead

You do not have to have every step in Antalya. A dentist or orthodontist in the UK may be able to provide the retainer and its check-ups. Ask them in advance whether they would, and on what terms. Your plan is not final until you agree to it in writing. You can say no, or ask to stop, at any stage, including after the examination.

Contact your treating dentist, or the dentist who looks after your retainer in the UK, if you notice any of these.

• A fixed retainer wire that feels loose, has come away from a tooth or has broken
• A wire end that pokes into your tongue or lip
• A removable retainer that is cracked, broken, lost or no longer fits
• A retainer that rubs or makes a sore spot
• Teeth that look as if they have moved, or a gap that has opened again
• Gums that bleed or are swollen around a fixed wire

If you think you have a dental abscess, do not wait. An abscess does not go away on its own and needs urgent treatment by a dentist¹⁶. In England, the NHS advises asking for an urgent dentist appointment. If you have no dentist or cannot get an emergency appointment, get help from NHS 111¹⁶.

Emergencies. The following need urgent medical help¹⁶. Do not wait for a dental appointment or for the clinic's reply. In the UK, call 999 or go to A&E. In Turkey, the emergency number is 112.

• Swelling that makes it hard to breathe, speak or swallow
• Swelling around your eye or in your neck¹⁷
• Swelling or pain in the eye, or sudden problems with your sight
• A lot of swelling inside your mouth
• Difficulty opening your mouth

Once you are back in the UK

If a wire comes loose or a retainer breaks, write to the clinic and send photographs. See the dentist who looks after your retainer in the UK for anything that needs someone to look in your mouth. In the emergencies above, do not wait for a reply.

Your own dentist

The General Dental Council suggests talking to your own dentist¹⁸ before you go abroad for treatment. Tell them which retainer you have and show them your written record. The NHS lists exchanging medical records and arranging aftercare back home¹⁹ among the things to consider before treatment abroad.

What the NHS does and does not do

In England and Wales, an NHS dental provider may accept you for a course of treatment, not only an urgent appointment. If it does, it provides clinically necessary treatment within its NHS services, with your consent²⁰. That does not mean an NHS practice will take over retention after treatment abroad. The free repair or replacement an NHS practice can give for its own work, including a replacement appliance, does not apply to work done elsewhere²⁰. The NHS also states that it is not liable for negligence or failure of treatment¹⁹ when you have treatment abroad. On the NHS England routes that fund planned treatment abroad, you cannot get reimbursement for dental treatment²¹.

The NHS guidance quoted on this page is for England, and for England and Wales where stated. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own NHS rules, which we have not checked. Elsewhere in the UK, ask your own dentist how the rules apply to you.

Travel insurance

The NHS notes that most travel insurance policies will not cover you for planned treatment abroad¹⁹, so you may need specialist cover. If you travel to Antalya for a retainer check or a replacement, ask your insurer before you book what is covered.

The General Dental Council lists questions to ask before treatment abroad¹⁸. Below is our selection, applied to retainers: what this page can answer today, and what to ask for in writing.

1. Who will carry out my treatment, and what are their qualifications? The treatment is provided by our clinic in Antalya, Turkey. Ask for the name of the dentist who will fit and check your retainer. Ask where they qualified and what their title is (see who carries out the treatment, above).
2. Will they speak English, or will there be an interpreter? Ask who will explain the wear and cleaning instructions to you in English, and whether you get them in writing in English.
3. Are you regulated by a professional body and registered with it? In Turkey, a health facility needs an authorisation certificate¹⁵ from the Ministry of Health to treat international patients. Authorised facilities appear in a register the Ministry publishes²², so you can check it yourself. The authorisation belongs to the facility, not to the dentist, and it says nothing about the result of your treatment. Ask for the treating dentist's own registration details as well. See health tourism authorisation.
4. How many times have you done this treatment, and what are your complication rates? The figures on this page come from published studies, not from the clinic's own records; the clinic does not publish its own figures yet. Ask for its figures in writing, for example how often its fixed retainers come loose, and how they were collected.
5. Is the work guaranteed, are the terms in writing, and for how long do they apply? This page makes no guarantee. Ask for the clinic's written terms for retainers: repairs, replacements, and what happens if teeth move after treatment.
6. What aftercare do you provide, and who can I contact after the treatment? Your written plan should name who checks your retainer, where, and how to reach the clinic from the UK (see above).
7. If there are complications, who pays for further treatment, extra flights and the hotel? Ask too what happens, and what you pay, if the examination shows the plan does not suit you. Ask for the answers in writing before you commit.
8. Do you have a complaints system, and can I see a copy? Ask for it before treatment. The GDC says it cannot resolve complaints or help with refunds²³; its investigations concern the dentists on its own register. Turkish regulation makes the facility responsible for complications and medical malpractice arising after the health service it provided¹⁵.
9. Do you have insurance to cover this treatment? In Turkey a facility treating international patients must take out complication insurance for surgical and interventional procedures carried out in an operating theatre¹⁵. That does not by itself tell you whether your treatment is covered, so ask which procedures in your plan, if any, fall under it. Ask too, in writing, whether the clinic or the treating dentist holds insurance for complications or errors, what it covers and whom it protects.

If the patient is under 18, ask whether the clinic treats under-18s, how consent is given, and who looks after the retainer at home.

The NHS names warning signs to think about before booking any treatment abroad. They are a hard sell, a lack of information, pressure to make a quick decision, no discussion of possible complications, and no mention of aftercare²¹. You can use them to judge any clinic, including ours.

This page does not show prices. A treatment plan is prepared for you after an examination. The main factors that shape the retention part of it are:

• The type of retainer: fixed or removable
• The check-ups after treatment, and how many of them are in Antalya
• Repairs to a fixed wire, and replacements or spares for a removable retainer
• New scans or impressions if a retainer has to be remade

Ask for the plan in writing. It should say whether the retainer, its check-ups, repairs and replacements are included, and for how long. Ask too who pays for extra travel if a problem needs an appointment in Antalya.

If you are comparing with a quote from a UK practice, compare what each one includes, item by item.