Bad Breath and Other Consequences of Not Cleaning Your Retainer or Aligner
Mornings are rushed. At night you’re sleepy. The day is busy, busy, busy! There are hundreds of reasons why you might not clean your retainer, aligners or night guard as often as directed, but do you know what could happen if you don’t?
4 Reasons Why You Should Clean Your Dental Guard, Retainer or Aligner
1. Bacteria can build up.
Did you know dental appliances can cause bad breath? Tooth decay and bad breath are both caused by bacteria in your mouth. If you don’t clean your aligners or mouth guard after each use, you could be introducing more bacteria into your mouth every time you put them back in. Old food particles and bacteria on your guard or aligner can get trapped between the appliance and your teeth, causing bad breath and even tooth decay. So the next visit to your dentist may not be a good one.
Cleaning your appliances not only helps prevent bad breath and tooth decay, but cleaning with Efferdent® Plus Mint Dental Appliance Cleanser delivers an extra mint-flavored boost.
2. You can get an infection.
Bacteria from unclean aligners or night guards could eventually cause infection in your teeth or gums, and can even travel to other parts of the body causing infection elsewhere. Throat infections, canker sores, and even increased allergies or asthma can result from molds, yeast, fungus and bacteria found in dirty dental appliances.
3. Your aligner, night guard or other dental appliance can become stained.
Clear retainers and aligners can be very discreet when they’re clean and bright, but stains can change that. In fact, both clear and opaque appliances can become stained, especially if you put them in right after eating or drinking, drink coffee or other non-clear beverages with them in, or don’t clean them regularly. The good news is Efferdent®can help remove stubborn stains.
4. You can shorten the lifetime of your dental appliance.
Retainers, aligners and even night guards can be expensive, so you want make sure you’re getting the full value for your money. Whatever dental appliance you use, cleaning it regularly is one of the most important steps you can take. Just don’t use the same toothbrush on your guard or aligner as you do for your teeth. Make sure to be careful how you’re cleaning your appliance, too, because toothbrushes and some toothpastes can cause damage.
Cleaning Doesn’t Have to Take Much Time
If you clean your retainer, aligner or night guard daily with Efferdent® tablets, killing 99.99% of odor-causing bacteria takes only 3 minutes. You could use those 3 minutes to brush your teeth and, if you can’t make it back to the cup in 3 minutes because you’re helping your child get dressed or you have to attend a meeting online, go back and rinse off the appliance whenever you are done. It’s really that easy!