{"id":5156,"date":"2015-12-02T10:35:24","date_gmt":"2015-12-02T09:35:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/redesign.madsen.de\/en\/blog\/glossary\/retainer\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T14:20:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T12:20:23","slug":"retainer","status":"publish","type":"encyclopedia","link":"https:\/\/www.madsen.de\/en\/lexikon\/retainer\/","title":{"rendered":"Retainer"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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After having completed the orthodontic treatment<\/a>, the anterior teeth have a lifelong tendency to relapse into the old tooth position. To prevent relapse, permanent stabilization of the anterior teeth in particular is required after active treatment. Retention<\/a> after treatment reasonably lasts a lifetime!<\/p>

The term ‘retainer’ means to hold in place, to stabilise, it refers to all devices used to stabilise the position of the teeth following orthodontic treatment. There are fixed and removable retainers.<\/p>

Fixed retainers<\/h2>

Fixed retainers are usually thin metal wires<\/strong> that are bonded to the inside of the front teeth, where they remain invisible from the outside and can stay in place for life.<\/p>

The advantages<\/strong> include reliability, comfort and, ultimately, cost-effectiveness. The disadvantages are that oral hygiene can be slightly more difficult and that individual bonds may occasionally break.<\/p>

The braided steel wires traditionally used for fixed retainers also have an annoying drawback: they can occasionally cause unwanted tooth movement. This problem no longer occurs when fixed retainers are 3D-milled, as is the case with the Prime4me<\/strong> retainer from Dentaurum. The Prime4me retainer is made from Grade 5 titanium, an alloy also used for implants.<\/p>

\"Festsitzender
Fixed retainer<\/a> with two adhesive joints<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Festsitzender
Fixed retainer with five adhesive joints<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Prime4me
Prime4me retainer (titanium, 0.43 mm): fits snugly against the inner surfaces without gaps<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Removable appliances for retention<\/h2>

Removable retainers include plate appliances<\/strong> or thermoformed, transparent plastic splints<\/strong>, and occasionally positioners<\/strong>. In some cases, bimaxillary appliances of the activator type can also be used as retainers.<\/p>

Removable retainers are slightly easier to keep clean, but they are also less reliable, as they are often not worn for long enough or may be lost at inopportune moments. In cases where the front teeth were severely rotated prior to treatment, wearing the retainer at night alone is often insufficient. The removable retainers would need to be worn during the day as well<\/strong>, at least initially – but this is an unrealistic expectation; hardly any patient does this!<\/p>

Furthermore, they wear out over the years and must be replaced periodically for hygienic reasons alone – and this can become expensive over a lifetime of retention.<\/p>

Adolescent patients in particular often have other things on their minds after active treatment has finished than reliably wearing removable retainers. The classic outcome is that, after just a few weeks of inconsistent wear, there is a significant relapse of the front teeth and poorly fitting removable retainers. This often necessitates further – and expensive – treatment to rectify the situation, followed by new removable retainers. This leads to frustration on all sides and often high costs<\/strong>.<\/p>

Advantages of the fixed retainers<\/h2>

Fixed retainers, on the other hand, can remain in the mouth for many years, so they are usually the better solution economically as well. Above all, the most important thing – keeping teeth straight for years – is achieved more reliably with fixed retainers.<\/p>

Precise adjustment of retainers<\/h2>

Unfortunately, one still frequently sees bulky, uncomfortable fixed retainers that are often bonded halfway over the gum line, making proper oral hygiene impossible.<\/p>

For this reason, we have the fixed retainers<\/strong> 3D-milled following a scan. These retainers fit seamlessly against the inner surfaces of the front teeth with a precision previously unattainable, regardless of how irregular their shape may be.<\/p>

In some cases, particularly when time is of the essence, we also have retainers prefabricated<\/strong> in the dental laboratory following an impression. The retainers, which are precisely fitted to the inner surfaces of the teeth, are then positioned accurately in the mouth using a silicone insertion aid.<\/p>

If fixed retainers made of braided steel wires are not precisely pre-bent in the laboratory on a plaster model, but are instead adapted directly to the patient, it is not uncommon for the elastic retainer wire<\/strong> to be bonded under tension. Although these tensions are minimal, so that patients do not notice them, in many cases they are sufficient to dislodge entire tooth roots from the jawbone.<\/p>

Such incidents can largely be avoided with meticulous work, but may occur to a limited extent even with the utmost care: in these cases, it is simply an inherent drawback of braided steel wires. With 3D-milled titanium retainers such as the Prime4me<\/strong>, however, this problem is finally solved.<\/p>

\"Herausnehmbare
Removable splint serves as a retainer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Plattenapparatur
Plate apparatus without active elements serves as a retainer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After having completed the orthodontic treatment, the anterior teeth have a lifelong tendency to relapse into the old tooth position. To prevent relapse, permanent stabilization of the anterior teeth in particular is required after active treatment. Retention after treatment reasonably lasts a lifetime! The term \u2018retainer\u2019 means to hold in place, to stabilise, it refers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-5156","encyclopedia","type-encyclopedia","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madsen.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia\/5156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madsen.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madsen.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/encyclopedia"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madsen.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":52,"href":"https:\/\/www.madsen.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia\/5156\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19762,"href":"https:\/\/www.madsen.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia\/5156\/revisions\/19762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madsen.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}