3 effective methods to clean your retainers and Invisalign aligners

If you are wearing removable retainers such as Hawley, or clear retainers or aligners, you may notice they get white build-up. At first, the build-up may be soft and sticky due to plaque build-up. With time, this sticky layer turns into crusty, white build-up that is difficult to brush away.

Just as calculus builds up on teeth, caused by minerals in saliva, calculus deposits can form on retainers. With time, it is very hard to remove. Aside from the unattractive look, dirty retainers also smell like rotten fruit. Thus, it is important to keep retainers and aligners clean.

Below are 3 methods of cleaning retainers: 

1. Brush your retainers manually
2. Soak your retainers in a sonic cleansing system
3. Soak your retainers in homemade solutions

 

1. Brush your retainers manually

This method is the cheapest, most reliable, and most effective way of cleaning retainers and aligners. Every morning, a minimum of once a day, manually brush your retainers with liquid hand soap and a toothbrush. Use a denture toothbrush that has stiff bristles to help get rid of the white plaque. Then rinse with warm water. Store retainers or aligners in a case with the lid open to air dry and eliminate any damp, salivary smell. Use soap that contains an antibacterial agent to clean plaque. It will also have a deodorizing agent to eliminate the smell.

Make sure to store retainers dry and only if they are clean and free of build-up. If they are dirty and you don't have time to brush them in the morning, then you should store the retainers in a cup of distilled water. Dirty retainers will dry out with a white biofilm and harden into crusty white calculus that is very difficult to clean and remove.

If you are concerned about avoiding chemicals, then use water only to clean the retainers. It may take a little longer to manually scrub the retainer.

You can use toothpaste instead of soap to brush the retainers. However, most toothpaste contains about 20% of abrasives, such as silica compounds, triclosan, polymers, and pyrophosphates. These ingredients are used to polish the teeth, prevent biofilm formation, prevent stains, and prevent tartar formation respectively. These ingredients can create micro scratches on your retainers or make retainers look more dull over time.

 

2. Soak your retainers in cleaning tablets and a sonic cleaner

This method uses a proprietary system of sonic cleaner and tablets. It is convenient and works effectively, however, it is more expensive. You can purchase a portable sonic cleaning kit and cleaning tablets at a drug store or over the internet from websites such as dentalkit.com or smileshop.com.

The sonic cleaners cost from $10 to $50 per unit depending on if they are battery operated or have a power plug with an auto shut-off option. These units basically vibrate to shake off calculus and plaque build-ups. The cleaning tablets cost about $5 per monthly supply. There are many brand names, such as Retainer Brite, SonicBrite, DentaSoak, Efferdent, and Polident. These tablets have antibacterial agents, cleaning agents and deodorizing agents to eliminate the smell and clean retainers. [Source: Wikihow]

 

3. Soak retainers in homemade cleaning solutions

With this method, you will need to create your own ingredient mix. The ingredients can be vinegar, baking soda or hydrogen peroxide.

You can use 5% distilled white vinegar, used for home cooking. Mix 1 part vinegar to 3 parts warm water. Soak your retainers or aligners for 20 minutes. Then clean off with water to dissolve white plaque. Use vinegar sparingly, as long term use can degrade the plastic and change the color of acrylic.

If you have not been cleaning your retainers and the build-up is old, chunky, and crusty, then use 1 part vinegar to 1 part water and soak overnight. Brush off with a stiff brush in the morning. Vinegar works as a dissolving and antibacterial agent. Most of the time, you can get rid of about 75% of crusty calculus. You still need mechanical brushing to scrape of the remaining tenacious hard calculus. By brushing your retainers daily, you prevent hard mineral build-ups as described here.

Baking soda or hydrogen peroxide can be used in substitution for vinegar, also with dilution in water. These ingredients work as an antibacterial agent to neutralize acidic bacteria and clean soft plaque. In general, vinegar still does a better job at removing hard calculus.

If you find this blog helpful, let us know. Dr. Nancy Phan and the team at Care Orthodontics want you to have a healthy and beautiful smile. We love to see you smile!