Retention and stability: a review of the literature.

Long-term posttreatment stability is an issue of great concern to all orthodontists. This article highlights the factors reported to play a role in posttreatment crowding and reviews the long-term retention studies evaluating the stability of various treatment modalities. Recommendations, based on well-documented basic principles, are made to try to insure greater posttreatment stability of our orthodontically treated cases.