Nothing compares to the day you get your braces removed. That first look in the mirror - that first look at your new, beautiful smile - is a moment you’ll remember forever. Your teeth are where you always wanted them to be. Dr. Eric and his staff don’t want that happy feeling to end - that’s why it’s so vital that you wear your retainer.

On that magical day that the braces come off or you finish your last Invisalign aligner, we will scan you for your retainers. Dr. Eric will instruct you to wear them all the time for a while (usually for a few weeks) and then while you sleep at night. Remember that your retainer is a representation of your perfect smile, so you need to commit to wearing it for years to come if you want to keep it perfect.

The reality is that when you are not wearing your retainer, your teeth start to return to their former positions. Dr. Eric likes to remind you that “teeth have memory.” They remember where they were before the braces or Invisalign and they will stubbornly try to go back. Some adult patients have to see us for additional orthodontic treatment if their teeth shift too far off track. Don’t let that happen - let’s keep Smiling Big forever!

Don’t let this retainer talk scare you away from braces or Invisalign. Come in for a free consultation and we’ll discuss your options. Chances are once you see how perfect your smile can be, you won’t mind popping in a retainer at night!

"How are you doing? This is How to Smile Big with Dr. Eric Leber. We’ve got How Mother Nature can throw you curveballs, come on over. This young lady got her braces off about, what, two months ago? Take a look at the front here Mo. Big smile! Things look really good. Nothing looks interesting or unique. But mother nature did throw us a curveball with her. So if you take a look, this is her before we started she’s missing her laterals which are the small teeth next to her big teeth. So look at me. These teeth the ones next to the big ones. She was missing the little ones which is really common. Um so, looking at her x-ray she’s missing her little ones and this canine is stuck too.

So I don’t think a period of a week goes by that I don't see a new patient with missing teeth, extra teeth, impacted teeth so there kinda like puzzles when mother nature throws that curve ball. So with her, which is my favorite option is closing in all the space with braces. So this is what we do with her so take a look at her. Big Big smile, and we’ll get the light on her, so these are actually her canines are you shades of little ones missing we brought for we are avoid having her get implants and fake teeth which is a cool cool benefit not having to go through that. Every case is different sometimes we have to get the implants but this is this is a really cool keys. Are you happy with them?"

"Yeah!"

"How long did it take us?"

"About two years."

"About two years, high five."