Orthodontic Treatment in Kansas City, MO
At Kurt Kavanaugh Orthodontics, our mission is to help you achieve a gorgeous, healthy smile you feel proud to show off in any situation – and to work with you to ensure that smile lasts a lifetime. We're proud to offer a variety of orthodontic treatments to patients throughout the Kansas City & Sedalia, MO areas, and we work with each patient individually to customize treatment to their lifestyle. Our services feature a wide range of orthodontic procedures including braces and Invisalign – but to truly ensure a lifetime of healthy smiles, you'll need more than just the active phase of treatment.
Why Do I Need a Retainer?
We know you'll be ecstatic once your braces come off – but your orthodontic journey isn't over quite yet. Next comes the retention phase, and it's crucial to ensuring the longevity of your smile.
While your teeth may be in new positions after finishing with braces, the bones, ligaments, and tissues that support them have yet to adapt to those new positions. Without a retainer, your teeth will just migrate back to their old places, erasing all your hard work! Retention helps your teeth set into place, ensuring your new smile lasts a lifetime.
Types of Retainers
We offer a number of different types of retainers at our office, and each one will be best for a different patient. Dr. Kavanaugh will work with you to help you choose the best option for your retention treatment:
- Hawley Retainer: The Hawley is the most popular style of retainer, offering a simple, durable solution for protecting your smile. Made from a piece of acrylic molded to fit your mouth and a thin metal wire to hold teeth in place, the Hawley is a reliable and cost-effective solution for almost any patient.
- Clear Aligners: Similar to the aligners used in the Invisalign system, clear aligner-type retainers are made from a thin plastic shell that fits directly over teeth. They provide an excellent and discreet aesthetic appearance, but they're not suitable for every patient.
- Fixed Retainers: Fixed retainers are generally used when a patient has a high risk of the teeth migrating back to previous positions. Fixed, or bonded, retainers consist of a metal wire running across the bottom front teeth that's cemented to two of the bottom teeth. Since they run on this inside of the teeth, they're impossible to see from the outside – and they provide the best protection from your smile.
Contact Your Sedalia & Kansas City, MO Orthodontist
Retention is a key step in your orthodontic treatment, helping to safeguard your smile for many decades to come – and whether you're getting ready to have your own braces taken off or are just starting the orthodontic journey, we at Kurt Kavanaugh Orthodontics would love to hear from you. You can always call us at 816-420-8100 for our Kansas City office or 660-829-2900 for our Sedalia office, or if you'd like to come in for an appointment, you can schedule one using our easy online form at either of our offices. We're looking forward to hearing from you, and we're excited to help you achieve the smile of your dreams!