Retainers are to be worn in your mouth while you sleep. The more you wear them, the better you’ll be protected against teeth shifting after you’ve had braces or aligners. With the nature of retainers, they are bound to get dirty and gross with bacteria. Do retainers affect oral hygiene? Yes, here are all the ways that they can change your oral health.
Once you get your braces or aligners off, your dentist will craft you a retainer. It is needed to keep your teeth in place so you can keep that perfect smile that you spent so much time on. The retainer will fit snugly onto your teeth and protect them against shifting. If you don’t wear a retainer, your teeth will try to shift back to their natural position.
With you wearing a retainer while you sleep and sometimes throughout the day, your retainer will be in your mouth a lot! Retainers can definitely affect your oral hygiene. Even if you brush your teeth once an hour and use mouthwash, natural bacteria and all the tiny food particles that stick to your teeth will not be fully removed. These particles will also become stuck to your retainer and if your retainer isn’t cleaned daily or deep cleaned weekly, bacteria can start to grow.
Bacteria on a retainer cause yellow and white spots on the material. If your retainer has these, it’s already too late. You’ll need a fresh retainer because this bacteria can make you sick and affect your oral hygiene. This mouth bacteria is particularly stinky, so if you continue to wear that retainer, your breath will be gross, and your teeth will keep being exposed to strong bacteria that is stuck on the retainer.
Replace your lost, cracked, gross, and damaged dental retainers with a new one from SportingSmiles. Prevent your teeth from shifting using the most durable clear retainers available. Take your own impression at home and save hundreds over going to the dentist. Impression kit included.
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Cleaning your retainer daily will go a long way toward preventing bacteria from growing on the retainer. This will also keep your oral hygiene in good shape. The cleaner your retainer, the cleaner your mouth will be, and vice versa. It’s always a good idea to brush your teeth, floss, and use mouthwash before putting on your retainers.
Now that you know, retainers do affect your oral hygiene and health, it’s important to keep them fresh. Your retainer will need to be replaced every year. With the nature of a retainer being worn every night, no matter how often you clean it, it will naturally become dirty. This means you will eventually have to visit your dentist and pay a very expensive bill to receive a replacement retainer.
Getting a replacement retainer from the dentist will cost anywhere from $500 to $1,200, depending on where you live. Living in big cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, or New York, you can expect to pay over $1,000. Even in rural small towns, retainers will be over $500. That can be a big bill to pay, but thankfully, there are other options.
SportingSmiles has been in business since 2009, crafting replacement retainers for over one million people. You can receive retainers from SportingSmiles all from the comfort of your home, and receive the same premium retainers that you would get at the dentist, but at half the cost. Using the patented impression kit, you can take impressions of your teeth and use the return label to send them back to SportingSmiles, where our expert team will craft your retainers.
If you have a dentist, ask them for your physical molds or digital STL files! SportingSmiles can use either of those to craft your replacement retainers. Most dentists will give them to you for free.
When you need a new set of retainers because yours are too gross, SportingSmiles can save you money while giving your teeth maximum protection. With an array of options ranging from a complete retainer set, single retainer, emergency rush retainers, retainer subscriptions, retainer bundles, and even a night guard retainer, SportingSmiles has a retainer for every occasion!
