How to Clean Retainers

Tooth brush method:

Using a toothbrush is certainly effective at removing unwanted contaminants from your retainers. However, this method can often damage your retainers by creating small scratches in your retainer that can allow plague to build up in. This makes it harder to clean them effectively in the future. It’s probably fine to use a brush on your aligners if you’re undergoing a treatment and you frequently move onto another set. Though, if you’ve finished your treatment and you need to look after your aligners then you should avoid this method.

Soak and rinse method:

Soaking

You should aim to keep your retainers moist at all times. This prevents plague that gets on your retainers from drying up and sticking to them. So when you take them out you should leave them soaking in your denture case.

If plague gets stuck to your retainers, you can soak them in some retainer cleaner which will help loosen up anything that’s stuck to them.

Rinsing

After you’ve let your retainers soak, you should turn your tap on high so there’s some decent pressure and rinse them. Most taps should provide enough pressure to wash everything off since your retainers have been soaking and all the contaminants have loosened. If you don’t have a tap with enough pressure then you can try a simple spray bottle with some water in it.

If you want to get really fancy you can use a water flosser which will get your retainer spotless, very quickly.

Now your retainers are clean!