Anyone have any Lost Retainer tales of woe?

[alisoncooks]

Well, technically it’s not lost since they know where it is…

DH and both kids spent the weekend about 4 hours away home. (I spent the weekend home, gloriously alone…but I’m ready for their company!)

Before they left the town they were visiting, they ate lunch at a restaurant. About 30 minutes ago, DH calls and says, “So, how expensive are retainers?”

🤔🙄😒😳

Um…expensive enough ya better not lose one, lol. ($500 is the replacement quote.) I told DH to call the restaurant and if they didn’t trash them, to turn that car around and backtrack the two hours to get them. 

What a stunner! That just turned a ~4 hour trip into a ~7 hour trip. Yikes! 

Tell me my kid isn’t the only one that’s done this!

[fairfarmhand]

I just ordered a retainer kit online ($85) to replace my dd19's 5 yr old retainer. It came last week and you create a mold of your mouth and mail it to the company who will create the retainer from the mold. Her old one is so worn it's cutting her mouth up. I'll let you know how it goes.

[Spryte]

But they got it back?! Yay! That’s a win!

My lost retainer story involves having to looked through the dumpster at a McDonald’s, bag by bag. 😨 That was in the 80s, and pretty sure it was my father’s way of making sure I’d never lose it again. It worked!

[alisoncooks]

8 minutes ago, fairfarmhand said:

I just ordered a retainer kit online ($85) to replace my dd19's 5 yr old retainer. It came last week and you create a mold of your mouth and mail it to the company who will create the retainer from the mold. Her old one is so worn it's cutting her mouth up. I'll let you know how it goes.

Do let me know! DD’s retainer is like a slightly sturdier Invisalign, which I hate because they will not have the longevity of “old school” retainers. Pretty sure it’s meant to make us have to fork out for a new one every few years. 

[alisoncooks]

4 minutes ago, Spryte said:

But they got it back?! Yay! That’s a win!

My lost retainer story involves having to looked through the dumpster at a McDonald’s, bag by bag. 😨 That was in the 80s, and pretty sure it was my father’s way of making sure I’d never lose it again. It worked!

Well, fingers crossed. The restaurant is still an hour away, but the person they spoke with on the phone says that they *do* have it.  Hopefully that will remain constant until dh gets there to retrieve it!

I have heard dumpster horror stories from years past. I was terrible at wearing my retainer (early 90s) so I never had a chance to lose it, haha. 

[mommyoffive]

15 minutes ago, fairfarmhand said:

I just ordered a retainer kit online ($85) to replace my dd19's 5 yr old retainer. It came last week and you create a mold of your mouth and mail it to the company who will create the retainer from the mold. Her old one is so worn it's cutting her mouth up. I'll let you know how it goes.

Let me know too please!  

[Spryte]

10 minutes ago, alisoncooks said:

Well, fingers crossed. The restaurant is still an hour away, but the person they spoke with on the phone says that they *do* have it.  Hopefully that will remain constant until dh gets there to retrieve it!

I have heard dumpster horror stories from years past. I was terrible at wearing my retainer (early 90s) so I never had a chance to lose it, haha. 

Total score if they have it! Fingers crossed!

[Laura Corin]

Our dog chewed up a retainer. They allowed one replacement for free.

[City Mouse]

Wow, our ortho only charges $50 each for replacements. 

[prairiewindmomma]

I have two kids in Invisalign currently and two in retainers + dh’s mouthguard. I have tales aplenty but not many entertaining stories. 
 

This summer we went on a hike to see a waterfall. It was steep and hot but worth it. By the end we were starving and hot and winded. The girls and I collapsed under a tree while the boys hiked another half mile to the parking lot for our picnic lunch. As we sat down to eat, dd realized she had left her retainer case in the van. No one wanted to make the hike back, so we agreed that she could place her Invisalign onto a napkin while we ate. The wind blew through and her trays and napkin went flying. We found the first tray after only ten minutes kneeling in the grass but the upper tray took another 30. There were lots of people coming off the trail staring at us as we crawled around on hands and knees looking for it. The second tray was found a good thirty feet out from where we were, sideways and deep in the grass.

[SounderChick]

No and those stories make me so happy that DD got a bonded retainer. Though it is a pain to clean around sometimes.

[alisoncooks]

20 minutes ago, City Mouse said:

Wow, our ortho only charges $50 each for replacements. 

Ah, we could’ve had that price *if* we signed up for the $100/year insurance plan.  

[alisoncooks]

@prairiewindmomma - oh my! That’s a good story! 😂 I’m glad/amazed you found it. 

[sassenach]

Ds lost his (at a restaurant, putting it in a napkin like I told him not to) and had to pay us back for the replacement. He was 14 and had some part time income.

[saraha]

Yup, digging through the trash on a HOT summer day at the Frosty Freeze in 1991. So much melted ice cream on everything! I cried when my mom actually made me wear it after I had cleaned it. 😆

[Clarita]

I watched a friend of mine dumpster dive for her's in middle school.

[Forget-Me-Not]

$500!  Is it a titanium retainer?! 
 

My son wore through one of his and I think the replacement was in the $250 range. His ortho also offered another, thicker kind that came in a 4-pack for about $310. We went with those, and when DD got her braces off, I specifically asked for that kind again. She tends to lose things. They both have lower fixed retainers and only wear their retainers at night so that cuts way down on loss potential too. 

[Emba]

I was staying at my aunt’s house when I lost the lower half of my retainer. Turned the room upside down multiple times. Never found it. My private theory is that the dog ate it, but that was 20 years ago, so the world will never know.   
 

I hadn’t had braces in two years and was supposed to wear retainers “until my wisdom teeth came in”. I was in college at the time. I just never got it replaced and didn’t worry about it. Two years later my wisdom teeth still hadn’t come in and I had to have them  pulled before I could join the Peace Corps.

Edited November 21, 2021 by Emba

[Syllieann]

Sorry, that stinks.  We have a tale of some too:

DS had his toiletry bag fall out of his main bag upon leaving a family member's hunting cabin.  We are four and a half hours from the cabin and the family member who owns it is also four hours but 3 hours from us like a triangle.  Didn't realize it was gone till he was home.  We ended up finding a trusted person 45 minutes away, gave info on how to get into by he cabin, and the person overnighted it to us. 

Edited November 21, 2021 by Syllieann

[Laurie]

58 minutes ago, Clarita said:

I watched a friend of mine dumpster dive for her's in middle school.

Our school had a huge dumpster so my friend and I had to climb into it to look for her retainer, and we found it!   She had put it on her lunch tray and forgot about it being there until later that day.  At least it was near the top and we didn't have to dive too deep!

 

[cintinative]

I made the mistake of wrapping mine in a napkin at home when we had company and my mom put in the trash compactor. I was running back to tell her when I heard it crunch.  Oy.

[alisoncooks]

They have the retainer! Yay!

Now that they’re so long on the road, they have to stop to eat dinner. I told them: EAT IN THE CAR!! (Or at least leave the retainer in the car, lol!)

[gardenmom5]

We had one go into the trash at the school lunch room.  I think we notified the school before it went into the dumpster out back.  But I was going through lots of trash.

[kristin0713]

I wrapped mine in a napkin and left it at a restaurant in 8th grade. My friends who worked there had to go digging through the garbage dumpster for it. My parents made me clean it and keep using it.  So embarrassing! But made for a good story. 

[ScoutTN]

Our dog ate Dd’s! We found a remnant under her bed, where the dog like to take anything he’s chewing on. $150 for the replacement.

Edited November 22, 2021 by ScoutTN

[dirty ethel rackham]

I lost mine in high school.  I only had it for a few weeks and I put it on my lunch tray in a napkin (they didn't have those handy boxes back then.)  I tossed it in the trash and when I was going to brush my teeth afterwards, I noticed it was missing.  I pawed through the trash 🤢 but found it. 

My oldest (11 at the time) had a retainer from his first round of braces.  After a soccer game, he took it out to eat the sugary snack that one mom insisted on providing because the orange slices I brought were "not appropriate".  I warned son to not eat it until we got to the car (it was a large sports complex and had to pass several fields to get to the parking lot.  He didn't listen and dropped his retainer (with a green palate plate).  We looked for a very long time but its pretty hard to find green plastic in green grass.  Never got it back.  We made him earn half the cost of it by doing some extra chores ( like helping clean out the crawlspace and help organize the garage.)  Learned his lesson.  

My daughter had one of the invisalign type retainers.  She had it in its case on her nightstand and it fell off and broke.  We had to pay $250 for a new one.  I was pretty upset since it was less than a year old.  It was stored appropriately and should not have broken like that.

[alisoncooks]

@dirty ethel rackham - that’s insane that it broke that easily! 

My daughter has only had her braces off for about a month. I’m sure this put the fear in her for a good while, lol. 

[alisoncooks]

Tons of Etsy sellers sell little pouches (often knit or crochet) that one can carry stones/crystals in. Idk about that, but I just told DH that dd was getting one for Christmas. Then when she’s out, she just tucks that retainer in a cute, boho necklace and no one is the wiser…

[PronghornD]

My kid licked the snow off her mittens during a snowstorm and her tongue thrust appliance went flying into the swirling, heavy snow right outside our door. We dug around frantically in the snow but could not find it, since the snow was accumulating rapidly. The snow persisted that winter. We found it under a bush in April when the snow finally melted. By then we had purchased another, and it no longer fit anyway.

 

[Dmmetler]

On 11/21/2021 at 3:27 PM, alisoncooks said:

Do let me know! DD’s retainer is like a slightly sturdier Invisalign, which I hate because they will not have the longevity of “old school” retainers. Pretty sure it’s meant to make us have to fork out for a new one every few years. 

Hate to tell you this, but my kid's old school bottom retainer broke in the first 6 weeks. After that, I had the dentist, who does invisilign but had sent us to an Ortho because the bite was too deep for invisilign, do the four pack invisilign version. At least then when one breaks, the next can be pulled out, and we'll have some warning to order more. 

[katilac]

My dd never lost hers, but I watched many horror stories second-hand when I was a teen working at Burger King, lol. 

My absolute favorites were the people who would ask if we would go through the trash bags looking for the lost retainer. Um, no, that is not going to happen, but we will hold those trash bags for you. 

It happened at least once a month.