Why do teeth move back to where they were after braces?
Your mouth has a very long memory. Your teeth are used to their old positions and will shift back if an individual does not wear a retainer (it happened to my sister-her teeth shifted exactly back-overbite and all). It could take months or possibly longer (if you had tooth extractions or have a problem with thrusting your tongue) for your mouth to get used to the new tooth positions. A retainer is used to “retain” the new tooth positions. As your body grows, so does your mouth and a retainer will keep your teeth in the right positions. Your teeth might also shift back to their original spots (if your not wearing a retainer) since your teeth kept on shifting with the braces every month and they were not kept in one spot for a long time. Some people who have had braces and then wore their retainer correctly for the time that was needed and then stopped may experience some shifting of their teeth. This can happen if you had tooth extractions or problems with tongue thrusting. Most people
