How to Clean Plastic Retainers Without Damaging Them?

Have you ever been thinking of cleaning your plastic retainers just like you do to your natural teeth? You must be brushing your teeth, but you never thought of cleaning your retainers as well. A bright and straight smile boosts your confidence; thus, many people turn to the field of dentistry to improve their dental conditions and make a remarkable smile. However, these orthodontic works include Invisalign, retainers, and braces.

One of the most common options is plastic retainers, but many people forget to clean them. Although if some of them try to clean them, I have seen many damaging them. A plastic retainer is explicitly made to wear regularly in order to straighten the displaced teeth and correct any previous orthodontic work. These retainers help you correct your dental conditions and prevent your teeth from dispositioning once they have straightened.

With the regular wearing of plastic retainers, they can easily give room to bacteria and build them up, which instead leads to several mouth diseases. However, it is crucial to clean plastic retainers to keep yourself healthy and cleansed. But how to clean plastic retainers without damaging them?

I have brought several means to clean them easily at home and keep oral hygiene.

The process to Clean Plastic Retainers

Cleaning plastic retainers is an effortless task. The method I have mentioned to clean plastic retainers involves only a few steps, which can be executed quickly and take not more than a few minutes.

✧ Wash off the Retainers

First of all, before starting cleansing your plastic retainers directly, you must wash them. However, this step is very understandable. Once you have taken your retainers out, just rinse them thoroughly and either cold or warm water. It is better to wash with slightly warm water to eradicate food particles or a thin plaque from them. You can also gently rub them with your hands for deeper cleaning.

✧ Dip the Retainers

Now soak or dip your retainers for five minutes at least. The best way to perform this step is to dip them in a mixture of water and an effective cleaning solution that should not contain bleach. Usually, many people clean their dental accessories such as partial dentures into the liquids such as denture cleaners, boiling water, mouthwash, household cleaner, soda drinks, or some kind of toothpaste mixtures. However, using such solutions to clean plastic retainers can damage them because these liquids have a very intense impact, and the plastic retainers are too delicate to be damaged. Soaking them in simple water works much better rather than dipping them in some chemical and damaging them.

✧ Brush the Retainers

Once you have dipped your plastic retainers into the water for a few minutes, I would soften up the plaque and other coatings from them. Now, use a soft-bristled toothbrush and rub the retainer gently. It would remove all the particles and collection from them, which may not have been eliminated by soaking it only. Many microbes might hide in the corners and cracks of the retainers; hence, brushing them also removes such bacteria and cleanses your retainers deeply.

✧ Rinse the Retainers

After soaking and brushing your retainers, wash and rinse them meticulously to remove all the softened plaque that came out while brushing your retainers. Rinsing retainers at the end is very important before wearing them in your mouth.

Summing Up

I hope the process of cleaning plastic retainers has helped you a lot in keeping oral hygiene and keeping your pearly teeth sparkly. However, if you still do not understand the concept of cleaning retainers at home or you fear that you may damage them by doing it yourself, feel free to contact our experts for elaborated advice. We feel pleased to help our respected clients.