I wouldn’t call it permanent, I would call it fixed. Because it’s glued there so the patient cannot remove it, but the fixed retainers are only for the front teeth. Because that’s what the patients usually care about. And the reason why I like those is that, again, there are no compliance problems. The removable retainers, it’s very common for patients to say “I forgot to wear it” for one or two nights and then it becomes one week, and when they travel, and they left the retainer in the plane or the hotel, or somebody threw it away. I mean, we’ve heard everything. I’ve even heard patients who say “my dog ate my retainer”.
So we’ve heard it all. It’s always good to have two retainers on the go so that you have a backup retainer. Fixed ones, they’re quite durable but I’ve had patients where the glue breaks off when they’ve bitten into something hard. And then fixed retainers might need to be repaired or replaced, so, at least they should have a removable one on top of that. But the removable ones, aside from being lost, you could have wear and tear. And it’s quite good for patients who grind their teeth as well, so you have a two-in-one kind of function. But a retainer is a must.
