Embrace Your Smile

Orthodontic Retention in Fredericksburg and Stafford, Virginia

After months of carefully taking care of your teeth, the day you’ve been waiting for is finally here — your braces are coming off! While it’s important to celebrate this milestone, your treatment isn’t quite over yet. Wearing a dental retainer ensures your new smile stays in perfect alignment after taking your braces off or ending your Invisalign treatment.

At Rappahannock Orthodontics, we offer three custom retainer options for patients to maintain their beautiful smiles for years to come.

What Are Dental Retainers For?

Dental retainers are removable or fixed dental appliances to ensure your teeth don’t shift back into misalignment after a patient completes a braces treatment. Before you start orthodontic retention, we’ll create a scan or mold of your teeth to make a retainer custom fit for your mouth.

The amount of time you’ll wear a mouth retainer varies depending on your treatment and age. After receiving your retainer, it’s essential to wear it as directed by Dr. Caspersen to ensure your teeth remain in the correct position.

Types of Teeth Retainers

Rappahannock Orthodontics is proud to offer a variety of orthodontic retention devices for our patients. Our teeth retainer options include:

Hawley retainer

A Hawley retainer is a metal wire on an acrylic arch that we may adjust periodically to ensure your teeth remain in the desired position. When a Hawley retainer is in place, the acrylic arch fits on the lingual walls or palate for a comfortable fit.

Essix

Before you receive your Essix retainer, Dr. Caspersen will make a mold of your teeth in their new alignment and then create clear retainer trays. Since Essix retainers are transparent, they won’t affect the appearance of your smile, allowing you to align your teeth discreetly.

Fixed Retainers

Unlike a Hawley or Essix retainer, Dr. Caspersen will attach the single wire of a fixed retainer to the tongue side of a few teeth to continually work to keep the teeth in proper alignment. Fixed retainers are ideal for younger patients or those who are likely to lose or forget their removable retainers.

Are you ready to start your orthodontic treatment?

“I love Dr. Caspersen and his staff. They are all friendly and efficient. I never have to wait past my appointment time, and I’m in and out of there in no time. My son was a patient there a few years ago, and our experience was the same then, too. (I’m doing Invisalign and he had “regular” braces.)”

Karen C.

“My 11 year old needed braces bad and this is the first of many phases to come. Dr. Caspersen was very friendly and helpful and explained the entire process. The staff there as well was very helpful.”

Neal R.

How to Care For Your Retainer

Whether you have a removable or fixed mouth retainer, it’s essential to properly care for your device to avoid the buildup of bacteria or food debris. If you have a removable retainer, thoroughly scrub the retainer with a toothbrush and water or a specialized retainer cleaner. For fixed retainers, be sure to angle your toothbrush when brushing your teeth to clean the device.

Why Rappahannock Orthodontics?

At Rappahannock Orthodontics, we love helping patients create beautiful smiles that last a lifetime. We treat our patients like family and create customized care solutions to fit their treatment goals and preferences. With a calm and relaxing office environment, you will feel at ease from the second you enter to when you leave.

Let Dr. Caspersen and his team help you on your journey towards a beautiful smile today!

Explore Our Retainer Options Today

Keep your smile beautiful after removing your braces with a custom retainer from Rappahannock Orthodontics. Call us at 540-701-4706 to schedule an appointment at our offices in Fredericksburg or Stafford, Virginia, today!

3D iTero Scan

Using the iTero 3D scanner, we can take accurate impressions of your teeth and gums digitally. No more putty! These impressions can be sent to Align Technology to customize your Invisalign aligners.

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Dental 3D Printing - Rappahannock Orthodontics - Fredericksburg, VA

3D Printer

Our 3D printing technology creates the perfect aligners that match your needs. This allows us to help you achieve your optimal smile!

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