I am happy to endure a lot in pursuit of my Hollywood smile, but one thing that I’m not prepared to suffer is bad breath. I have begged my husband to tell me if he smells even the slightest whiff, but honestly, I think he is too kind to bring it up. My daughters, however, are another story and would gleefully revel in letting me know, so it’s them I am relying on as an early warning system.
My orthodontist’s suggestions for caring for your aligners involved cleaning them with a soft toothbrush and water (but no toothpaste) and soaking them daily in a solution of 1/10 parts bleach and water. However, I am squeamish about chemicals, and more importantly I suffer from crohns disease, so the last thing I would ever do is put something in my mouth that might trigger a flare up of my illness. Not only that, I think the bleachy smell alone is enough to put me off- I don’t want to give myself excuses not to wear them.
Consequently, I have developed my own little cleaning system, and am happy to report that three weeks in, both sets of aligners have stayed crystal clear and odour free.
Firstly, and I think this is crucial, I don’t ever eat or drink anything except water whilst wearing my aligners. I am also absolutely fastidious about rinsing them under running water after I remove them from my mouth. Believe me, this is important -if you forget to do it by the time you come to reinsert them they are less than fragrant.
Secondly before I put them back in I do the full brush, floss, rinse routine, almost without exception. The only times I haven’t been able to do this because I have forgotten my toothbrush I have at least flushed my mouth thoroughly with water before putting them back in, and then taken them out and brushed as soon as I get the chance. I do notice when I do this that they have a very slight smell- personally, I don’t think it is ideal, even though my ortho’s assistant says she does it all the time.
Lastly, when I clean and floss for the last time at night I soak them in a denture bath
(a small plastic tub) with water and a Polident
tablet. This gives them a slight pinky tinge, which rinses off under running water, but definitely makes them seem fresher. I should point out that Invisalign expressly recommend against this. I wouldn’t want to lead anyone astray…
(a small plastic tub) with water and a Polidenttablet. This gives them a slight pinky tinge, which rinses off under running water, but definitely makes them seem fresher. I should point out that Invisalign expressly recommend against this. I wouldn’t want to lead anyone astray…Update:
useful links:
