Welcome to your guide to retainer care! At Risinger Orthodontics, we stress to our patients that wearing a retainer is essential after orthodontic treatment to preserve their new picture-perfect smile. This guide will provide expert advice on how to care for removable and permanent retainers alike.
Join us on this journey of orthodontic retainer care, ensuring you keep that radiant smile shimmering for years to come!
Cleaning your retainer is not a complicated process. Whether you have a removable or permanent retainer, we’ll provide you with a few easy to follow steps that’ll keep it clean and keep your new smile shining.
Cleaning a removable retainer, like a Hawley or Vivera retainer, is such a breeze. Just take them out of your mouth when you’re about to brush your teeth, floss or eat, and follow these steps before putting it back in:
Talk with your doctor at Risinger Orthodontics about using specialized cleaners like Efferdent or Polident. If given the green light, you can mix a cup of lukewarm water with a tablet of the cleaner, and soak your retainer in the solution for extra cleaning.
If you have a permanent retainer, don’t worry; we’ve got you covered too! You can always reach out to us if you have questions about cleaning them. It’s essential to brush and floss regularly to keep your permanent retainer clean.
Flossing can be a little tricky when first getting used to your retainer because the retainer wire prevents you from reaching the bottom of your teeth and beneath your gums, but here are a few steps to help you get the hang of it:
Visiting your dentist for regular cleanings is also very important for maintaining your permanent retainer. They can give your teeth a beautiful, deep-clean and prevent the build-up of plaque and bacteria!
Cleaning a removable retainer, like a Hawley or Vivera retainer, is such a breeze. Just take them out of your mouth when you’re about to brush your teeth, floss or eat, and follow these steps before putting it back in:
Talk with your doctor at Risinger Orthodontics about using specialized cleaners like Efferdent or Polident. If given the green light, you can mix a cup of lukewarm water with a tablet of the cleaner, and soak your retainer in the solution for extra cleaning.
If you have a permanent retainer, don’t worry; we’ve got you covered too! You can always reach out to us if you have questions about cleaning them. It’s essential to brush and floss regularly to keep your permanent retainer clean.
Flossing can be a little tricky when first getting used to your retainer because the retainer wire prevents you from reaching the bottom of your teeth and beneath your gums, but here are a few steps to help you get the hang of it:
Visiting your dentist for regular cleanings is also very important for maintaining your permanent retainer. They can give your teeth a beautiful, deep-clean and prevent the build-up of plaque and bacteria!
Here are a few more helpful tips that’ll help keep your retainer in amazing condition!
Just like you would normally brush your teeth in the morning and at night, the same applies for cleaning your retainer. Regular, consistent cleaning ensures that plaque and bacteria don’t build up so that your retainer and your oral health stay in tip-top shape.
Avoid exposing your retainer to high temperatures, as it could warp the plastic and cause you to have to get it replaced. That means don’t put your retainer in:
Always use lukewarm water to clean and rinse your retainer.
Using alcohol-based mouthwash or bleach (yes…yes, it’s happened before) to clean or soak your retainer can distort or dry it out making it more susceptible to damage in the future. Instead, you can soak your retainer in a mixture of water and baking soda to sanitize it.
Consistently wearing your retainer is the way to ensure its effectiveness, but we understand how important the convenience of being able to take it out to eat or complete morning and nightly hygiene routines is to our patients.
Storing your retainer in a case not only reduces the chances of losing it, but it protects it while it’s not in your mouth. By not keeping your retainer in your case and setting it down somewhere, it could be accidentally thrown away, dropped, or your pet could use it as their new chew toy. We’d love for none of those things to happen to you.
While it’s up to you to care for your retainer, we’re still here to help you whenever you need us. Thankfully, retainer care isn’t difficult to maintain, and we hope we provided you with some useful tips and advice that will keep your vibrant smile gleaming after your orthodontic treatment.
Contact us online or call us today to schedule your in-office consultation. We’re ready and happy to take care of you at every step of your smile journey!
