Retention and the inadvertently active retainer

Nearly every patient who has orthodontic treatment must then have retention applied. Currently no consensus has identified the best retention regimen to use in all cases. Although retention procedures differ from country to country, the trends seen now are the use of more invisible retainers instead of Hawley retainers, more fixed retention, and retention that is lifelong rather than for a limited time only. Complications that occur with the long-term use of bonded retainers include an “unintentionally active retainer,” which can move the root almost completely out of the alveolar process (Figure 1).

Source: Dental Abstracts - November 1, 2018 Category: Dentistry Tags: Inquiry Source Type: research