How Long Do You Have To Wear A Retainer At Night After Braces. But 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. Of course, you must take your retainer out to eat or to to brush your teeth.
Most of the respondents recommend wearing these retainers every day for 9 months and then dropping down to nightly wear after that. However, we do not recommend ever stopping permanently. This is an important issue because as mentioned at the top of this page, 40% to 90% of patients have unacceptable dental alignment 10 years after the completion of their orthodontic treatment.
And this correlates with the finding that very few patients are still wearing their retainers as instructed 5 years after their braces have been removed.
You'll typically wear this retainer full time for four months to a year after braces, only removing it when you're eating or brushing your teeth. Normally we recommend that retainers are worn for 9 months full time and at night only indefinitely. For example, you might have to wear your retainer all day for three months then wear it only at night. After this phase, you’ll transition to wearing the retainer only at night, every night.