Social media provides a great insight into many topics and orthodontics is no exception. It always amazes me how many tweets about braces are posted every day so I thought I would do a series of posts about what I have discovered so far. This post is all about #retainers.
If you were to go into Twitter and search for #retainers you will see some very common themes emerging. The first one is probably not a surprise but it would appear that an awful lot of people stop wearing their retainers then have huge regrets as they realise their teeth have shifted and they are going to need to get braces again. Good news for orthodontists I’m sure but a bit of a shock for those contemplating the thought of having braces as an adult!
Leaving retainers out of your daily routine also seems to feature quite frequently too although the tweets are usually descriptive of the pain involved in putting retainers back in after a long break from wearing them. A lot of people appear to lose their retainers every day, some get reunited with their owners after an extensive search through the restaurant rubbish bins (I’m not sure I would want my retainers back after this) whereas others face the prospect of returning to their orthodontist for a new set to be made. And speaking of which, the price of new retainers seems to vary widely with some provided at a modest cost and others far less so.
Observations about lisping with retainers also gets tweeted regularly although this is often seen as a humorous side to adjusting to retainer wear. This is something I can certainly relate to although I’m assured it sounded far worse to me than those on the receiving end.
These are the main themes I could find from Twitter on #retainers and in my next post on this topic, will be looking at #braces.
