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While a retainer helps maintain your newly aligned teeth, keeping up with your oral hygiene practices is still important as it can lead to dental problems such as bad breath. But is it affecting your retainers as well?
In this blog, we’ll explore why you’re dealing with bad breath and whether it's causing your retainers to smell bad.
What are Retainers?
A retainer is a customized dental device made up of medical-grade thermoplastic. It helps retain your newly aligned teeth by gently applying pressure and ensuring they are kept in place.
Reasons For Smelly Retainers
When it comes to your smile treatment, your dental products must be properly maintained as well. If your retainers smell bad, the following factors can be the reason:
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Lack of Dental Hygiene
Your dental hygiene is crucial for the retainers since they stay inside your mouth throughout the day. Due to improper brushing or flossing, the food particles remain stuck in your teeth, leading to bacterial growth.
This bacteria, in turn, breaks down the food particles and produces volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs), which compromise your dental hygiene and cause bad breath. Moreover, this breakdown can also lead to plaque buildup which is a sticky film formed on the teeth and can eventually lead to bad breath.
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Dehydrated Mouth
A dehydrated mouth causes a lack of saliva production in your mouth that prevents bacteria from being killed since saliva is a natural bacterial agent. To tackle this, simply keeping yourself hydrated by drinking plenty of water throughout the day helps you maintain your dental condition.
Tips For Maintaining Retainers
By following these tips, you can maintain your retainers easily:
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Proper Cleaning
Brushing and flossing your teeth daily ensures proper cleaning. Additionally, using mouthwash to rinse your mouth is also a helpful way to maintain your dental hygiene.
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Soaking Retainers
Home remedies can also help you maintain the hygiene of your dental product. While retainer cleaning solutions are the ideal choice in this case, simply soaking retainers in mouthwash or dishwashing soap for some time will eliminate most of the germs or bacteria present on the surface. This DIY trick is effective but not better than a dedicated retainer cleaning solution.
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Proper Storage
Another way your retainers can come in contact with germs and bacteria is by being kept out in the open. To ensure this does not happen, try storing them in a retainer case that is designed to safeguard them from bacterial contact. This will help you keep them safe and prevent losing them as well.
To sum it up, retainers can help maintain your smile, but in return, they demand proper hygiene measures as well. If your smile is not properly cleaned and food particles are still left, it leads to smelly retainers. Ensure you rinse this dental product with water before and after wearing it and soak it in cleaning solutions. By following the tips above, you can keep them safe and maintain your smile with enhanced oral hygiene.
FAQs
1. What are retainers?
Retainers are dental devices made up of medical-grade plastic and placed inside your mouth to retain your attained alignment.
2. How often should I clean my retainers?
Cleaning of your retainers must be done daily. You need to rinse them before and after wearing them to make sure there is no germ left on the surface of the retainers.
Related Blogs
https://alignerco.es/blogs/blog/the-ultimate-guide-for-when-your-retainer-tightens
