How To Stop Teeth From Shifting Without Retainer?

A retainer is given after orthodontic treatment. Your dentist will prescribe it to keep the bite in place.

A retainer is a modern device that lets your teeth be maintained in an appropriate position even after the removal of braces.

Some people find retainer irritating, so they stop using it. That makes their teeth slowly shift to the previous position. For this reason, people ask how to stop teeth from shifting without retainer.

Well, there’s no professional way to replace a retainer, but there are some tips and precautions that may help to maintain your smile.

How To Stop Teeth From Shifting Without Retainer?

Here are some essential points you need to be familiar with regarding this topic.

There’s no alternate to retainer!

Unfortunately, whether a retainer is uneasy for you, there’s no other item you can use to maintain your smile.

Retainers are modern and effective devices to prevent your teeth from shifting to their previous unaligned position.

Thus, if your dentist recommends it after orthodontic treatment, you must wear it.

Tips to Prevent Teeth from Shifting After Straightening

As mentioned above, a retainer is the number one way to keep teeth from shifting. But you must follow other healthy tips to maintain a good smile.

And here they are!

Keep the best oral hygiene

Whether you have extracted wisdom teeth, have braces on, or wear a retainer, you always have to use the best teeth cleaning methods.

Brushing, flossing, and rinsing are compulsory to let your teeth work correctly.

Moreover, your retainer needs to be cleaned at least once daily to avoid plaque and tartar.

Use miswak

Miswak is a natural toothbrush that helps strengthen your gums. If your gums are strong, your teeth will be less likely to change their position.

Use miswak as much as possible as it has no side effects as other chemical oral products.

Stop Grinding/Clenching

Grinding and clenching put an enormous force over your teeth and surroundings, which worsens your teeth’ position, so you must get out of this habit immediately if that’s something you tend to do.

If you can’t manage to avoid grinding and clenching, get a mouth guard, which is similar but much stronger than a retainer that helps to prevent your upper and lower teeth from disturbing each other.

It usually needs to be worn at night, but if you have severe grinding, you can also use it in a routine.

Improve your workspace

This may not make much sense, but a poor posture may lead to tooth misalignment if you work at a desk.

That happens because many people rest their chins on their hands while working with computer screens. That might seem normal, but the slight pressure may move your teeth if you do it daily for a month or year.

Keep your desk in a medium position, i.e., not so high or low that your computer screen is not too away from you. Also, make sure your chair has back support.

Don’t press with your tongue

Some people have a habit of putting pressure on the lower teeth. That causes a vital force that may interfere with the teeth’ position.

Stay away from this habit, as it doesn’t only affect the position of your teeth but also creates a little wound over the tongue.

Do teeth exercises

Like other body parts, your mouth and teeth also need particular physical movements. These typical, easy-to-do exercises will help your jaw and teeth release stress and stiffness.

Here are some of them:

Exercise with tongue

Take your tongue to the top of your mouth, near your front teeth, as you are about to say “nnnnn .” Keep your tongue in this position for as long as possible, and keep repeating after a short rest. That will help to refrain your jaws from clenching.

Yawn repeatedly

Yawning stretches jaw muscles when they become stiff, which can help your face feel less sore.

Yawn 5 – 10 times consecutively. You have to do this artificially by acting like you are yawning.

Chew bubble

Chewing bubble gum helps your teeth and jaws continuously move, removing stiffness. During your working time, take a soft bubble gum, and keep chewing it for 5 – 10 minutes or more.

Massage your jaw

This exercise is one of the best in stress relieving and smoothening your jaws. Press gently with your fingertips on the jaw points. Rub your fingers circularly in clockwise and anti-clockwise directions.

Roll your shoulders

Move your shoulder to the upward and backward positions. Make a circular motion and repeat until your shoulders feel more relaxed.

You might be thinking about the relationship between exercising your shoulder with your jaws, well, with this exercise, your shoulder will become relaxed, and you will indirectly be less habitual to grinding your teeth.

Mouth rinse exercise

Fill half of your mouth with tap water.

Rinse forcefully throughout your mouth.

That will help to exercise most of your mouth with the help of water pressure and ringing movements.

Note: Do not rinse your mouth with immense force after a wisdom teeth removal or while having braces.

Can you drink water with retainers on?

You can drink water anytime while wearing a retainer if the water is free from chemicals, flavor, or color.

When can you wear retainers after wisdom teeth removal?

After a few hours of extraction, you can start wearing the retainer.

If you feel discomfort, you can wait a few more hours before putting on it.

The Bottom Line

Perfect teeth alignment is a dream of every person. And without proper teeth-caring products such as retainers, it is almost impossible.

Simply put, a retainer is a lifesaving device for your newly aligned teeth, and you must wear it as per your dentist’s recommendation.

Keep proper oral hygiene, make dental checkups, and never skip a day without a retainer; otherwise, your teeth will slowly shift to the previous misaligned position.