I am still not used to my retainers. I hate the fact that my speech is funny when I have them on. Although the ortho prescribed 20 hours daily wear for me, I think I wear about 15 hours or so. After brushing in the morning, I don't wear them because I have to eat breakfast. And my breakfast tends to drag on until noon. Then I have lunch (7 hrs total). I guess I officially wear my retainers again at 2pm or so, and then take them off for dinner (2hrs) and then I'll have it on throughout the night. So in a day, I have approximately 9 hrs that I am retainer-free. 15 hours is not bad at all! My upper left back tooth was hurting a bit a couple of weeks ago. At first I thought I had a tooth decay, but my general dentist didn't see any cavities... so I suspect that it is the retainer causing the pain. I'd have the Ortho check it out the next time I go in.
By the way, I asked my dentist to switch out my metal fillings to the tooth-colored ones. I don't really care about my upper fillings, but I have 3 on my lower teeth, which shows up drastically when I laugh. I have an appointment this coming Saturday...but I don't know if he will be able to replace all 3 of them at the same time.
