[masraum]

Originally Posted by Paul K

Some of the sets hurt like the blazes, but the retainer I now use doesn't seem to put any torque on them at all. Which makes me wonder why I have to wear them...

What they told my wife was this. When they are done moving your teeth, and you have to wear the retainer, it's to give your bones/teeth/gums time to set. I guess all of the movement leaves them a bit loose and if you don't hold them in place for a while, they'll try to wander back to where they used to be. Or something like that.

The reason the trays hurt when you switched, was because of the torque that the new trays put on your teeth to try to get them into a new position. The retainers are just retaining the current position, not trying to move them into a new position.