This month in my mouth
So, as we all knew, it never really ends, right? The braces are off and that's awesome! But, I do have retainers -- top and bottom. As far as visibility goes, they're not that bad as you can see in the pictures. As far as comfort, they're ok. They feel a little weird; having so much plastic in my mouth makes me salivate a bit extra all the time; the top one kind of gives me a really mild lisping sound that no one but me seems to hear. The extra saliva is a bit embarrassing. Since getting them, I've actually drooled on myself a couple of times (while awake and stuff) and my coughs make my shirt sleeve all wet (ew!). But overall it's nice.
So, you have to take these retainers out to eat anything. This makes for some reasonably significant logistics while I'm trying to wear them all of the time. You can't just pop them out, eat something, and then pop them back in. That would be ... repulsive. So, I have to always, always have a plan for storing them while they're out and brushing my teeth after eating. Twice already I've had no plan for storing them while out to eat, wrapped them in a napkin and set it next to my plate, and left the restaurant without them. One of those times whoever cleared the table didn't notice there was something in the napkin (which is completely understandable) and threw them away. The waiter actually dug in the trash and fished them out for me! A few other times I've managed to end up not wearing them for half a day or so, due to no planning for teeth brushing after eating.
As for how my teeth feel: They still feel weird when the retainers are out. I can't really tell if it's just because my teeth are still settling into position or something, or if it's because I actually have permanent "tooth numbness" as a side effect of my jaw surgery and I just didn't realize it until now because I've been writing off all tooth un-comfort to the braces. I guess we'll have to wait and see how that sorts out.