3 Ways To Clean Your Retainer

Cleaning your retainer is crucial to maintaining healthy teeth. Your retainer is in your mouth for extended periods of time. While it’s in your mouth, bacteria will develop and transfer from your mouth to your retainer which is why it’s so important to clean them. Retainers can be grouped into three different categories.

Fixed Retainers

These are typically permanent and need to be removed by the dentist. Here’s how to clean them.
1. Use a floss threader to loop the thread in between your teeth.
2. Move the threader across your gums until you’ve reached the tooth you want to clean, This will remove any gunk that is stuck in your teeth.

Hawley Retainers

This retainer is custom fit to your teeth and given to you from your dentist. It’s made out of acrylic and molds to your teeth. Here’s how to clean them.
1. Soak it in equal parts mouthwash or mild dish soap and water
2. Another alternative is to rinse with warm water and scrub any unwanted material off of it.

Clear Retainers

These are invisible and can be bought without a dentist. They are typically made out of plastic. The way to clean them is very similar to the process of cleaning Hawley retainers.

1. Rinse with lukewarm water
2. Create a solution with either mouthwash or a mild dish soap and mix it with equal parts water. Alternatively, you can buy a cleaning solution.
3. Soak the retainers in the solution
4. Brush off any unwanted material
5. Rinse once more

Hopefully, after learning about the different types of retainers, you will find it’s not so hard to clean and take care of them.

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