How to Get Your Child to Wear Their Retainer

In a perfect world, your child wouldn’t need any help wearing their retainer. After you’ve already shelled out money for the initial treatments (and your child has spent hours sitting in a chair), they’ll recognize the importance and follow a schedule. In reality, life can get in the way pretty quickly. Here, we’ll look at how to keep your kid on a schedule.

Reinforce the Routine

First things first: you’re likely to get a lot of excuses if your child doesn’t wear their retainer, which is why you can’t overlook how well they follow their dental hygiene routine. If they can get in the habit of brushing their teeth consistently, then they can get in the habit of popping in their retainer. Even one disruption or exception can be enough to offset their progress, so you may want to make this a priority in the first couple of weeks.

Add Some Incentives

Later bedtimes, extra screen time, an allowance bonus: an incentive or two can go a long way to helping kids wear their retainer. You can also try reiterating the worst-case scenario: if a child doesn’t wear their retainer after braces, there’s a chance they’ll need to get braces put on their teeth again.

Find the Right Orthodontist

An experienced orthodontist in Parrish will fit your child’s retainer so it’s as comfortable as possible. This can be a major factor in your child’s routine because your child might not realize that their retainer doesn’t have to be a burden to wear — they might just assume that all retainers feel that uncomfortable. At Orthodontic Specialists, we specialize in early orthodontic treatment in Parrish, FL, giving us clearer insight into how to work with kids as they move from one oral stage to the next.