After previous treatment

Why teeth drifted

Usually one of four reasons, and it is worth identifying which before starting again.

• Retention stopped. The most common by far. Retainers were worn for a year or two, then a retainer broke or was lost and never replaced, and the teeth moved over the following decade.
• Normal age-related change. Lower front crowding increases through adulthood in people who never had orthodontic treatment at all. Previous braces do not exempt you from it.
• The bite was never fully corrected. Where teeth were aligned but the underlying bite left unresolved, the forces that caused the original problem continue to act.
• Wisdom teeth are often blamed and are rarely the main cause. The evidence for third molars driving lower incisor crowding is weak; they may contribute modestly at most.

What retreatment usually involves

It begins with a full reassessment rather than an assumption that the old plan simply needs repeating. Records are taken fresh, because roots, bone and gum condition have all changed since the first course. Where relapse is limited to the front teeth, treatment can be genuinely short — six to twelve months is common. Where the bite itself was never settled, the second course addresses what the first did not, and takes longer.

One thing worth checking on radiographs is root length. Roots shortened during a previous course of treatment are not necessarily a barrier, but they change how force is applied and how progress is monitored.

Making it stick this time

The plan finishes with retention treated as permanent maintenance rather than a post-treatment phase: usually a bonded wire behind the lower front teeth plus a clear retainer worn at night, indefinitely. Retainers and the first year of retainer checks are included in the fee here. If a retainer breaks in year six, call us — a replacement made within days fits, and one made a year later may not.

Retreatment is not evidence that the first course failed. It is usually evidence that retention stopped, which is a solvable problem the second time around.