Pick up my retainers

This morning I rushed to the radiology to get my full final x-rays and photos. I spent around 40 minutes there. It's the same procedures like the first time I went there to get the same x-rays and photos before I started wearing braces.

From the radiology, I went to Trophy Cupcakes in Wallingford but I couldn't find the shop so I gave up and went to the mall instead where they had a mobile shop with limited supplies of cupcakes. Thankfully since it was still lunchtime, they still had plenty.. So I bought half dozen of cupcakes for my ortho office and his staff. They were so happy to get the cupcakes. You can never be too old for cupcakes, right? :)

I was given a paper to congratulate me on the end of my treatment. And I filled in a survey about their service and their office. Then the assistant came to show me my upper and lower retainers. The upper one is a clear plastic like invisalign type. While the lower one is just standard Hawley retainer. She showed me how to put both on and then watched me put them on myself to make sure I did it right. Just after 2 days, the bottom left of my wisdom teeth had already moved. So she had to apply a lot of pressure there and I cringed because it kinda hurt. To be honest, I don't think I'm doing it right. I just hope for the best!

After 2 days experiencing free and bare teeth, I just figured out that turns out I would have to wear retainers FULL TIME (24/7) for the first 6 months - except when I eat and brush my teeth!! WOW I didn't know this. I was pretty upset about it because I thought it was really the end of my treatment so I could have my teeth all freed again. But nope, it's the normal procedure. The retainers are intended to maintain the position of our new teeth positions so they wouldn't move and go back to the old position or move all over the place. I got to choose which color I wanted for my retainer cases, I got to pick 2 cases to bring home :) My orthodontist office offers 2 types of retainer.. One is a bigger square case with a hinge, the other one is a smaller round case that you have to just rotate the lid to open. I picked both the square ones in Gold and Turquoise.

I have to come back in 6 weeks to my ortho for a check up to make sure none of my teeth move or anything like that. He also wanted me to schedule an appointment with my dentist to take care of implants and surgery, warning me that after any treatment with my dentist, my retainers might not fit well anymore and I'll have to come see them to get them adjusted/replaced.

I am wearing both retainers in this pics,
although you can't see the top retainer since it's just clear plastic.
When I smile normally (unlike in the first pic where I purposely smile wider),
the wire of the lower retainer won't show either.
The only way other people will recognize I'm wearing retainers is
from the way I speak now. I'm still trying to get used to the retainers
in my mouth and they're affecting my speech.