57. My Retainer

I'm sorry to make you think about something that I wear in my mouth all night, but I really am thankful for my retainer. I had braces in high school. When I got them off, I was really excited to see how straight my teeth had become. Like everyone who gets braces, I was given a retainer. I was given a schedule to follow where I would wear it less and less over time, with the goal being that I would only need to wear it occasionally, if at all. Well, I didn't keep with the schedule and started forgetting to wear it when I was supposed to, and then that quickly turned into not wearing it at all even though my teeth weren't ready for that. After a while, I tried putting it back in and it hurt a lot. My teeth had started to shift back to where they used to be. Well, luckily it wasn't too late and the retainer did fix things, but now I need to where it every night (and this has been going on for years now), or else I tell that my teeth are shifting again. So, even though I could have gotten to a point where I didn't need to where it very often, I thankful that I still have it and that I can wear it to keep my teeth in place now that I need it.