I think my retainers are messing up my teeth!?

Question

i got my braces off maybe 4 months ago. and when i got them off, they were great and i was so content with them. all of my teeth were in place, straight, and there was just a very small gap in the middle of my top and bottom teeth. my ortho gave me my retainer about 4 days later... and he said my teeth shifted just a tad, but he fixed it up a little and it was nice again. i started wearing my retainer probably 24 hourrs a day for about a week. the next week i wore it at school for probably an hourish, & then i took them off & didn't put them on until i got home at around 3 - 4 but wore them for the rest of the night. a few weeks later, i started wearing them 24 hours but they were starting to get loose and my ortho said if it was loose that i could tighten up the curved wire on teh retainer by pinching it a little. soon i noticed that the gap in them middle was getting bigger and that the bottom teeth were almost the same distance as the top! tooth 4 (in the pic) didn't touch the top

tooth. teeth 1 and 2 seemed out of balance (1 is not crooked like that... i just faced the camera a weird angle). it was really strange, and even my mom noticed my teeth weren't as staright as they were before. i've continued wearing my retainer though. so i need help. why are my teeth doing that?

pic: http://i10.tinypic.com/4le4yh0.jpg

Answer 1

I had a similar problem and it caused me to have braces a second time. Trust me you have to wear them consistently. It will mess up your teeth if you don't. I learned the hard way. Start wearing them for 24 hrs, except to eat and things like that, and you will see them start to get back to how you want them. I would also have him remake some retainers for your current condition to correct this problem. If he won't I would seek a different ortho.

Answer 2

I'd find another orthodontist, yours sounds lazy to me. I would never adjust my retainer, that is his job.