How To Deep Clean A Mouth Guard?

A mouthguard is an excellent tool for protecting your teeth. Mouth guards help protect your teeth from chipping or breaking in sports or teeth grinding at night. But one may need to learn how to take care of their mouth guard. Read this article to learn how and why you should clean your mouthguard and ensure it is free from food debris and bacteria before your next game.

Why Wear a Mouthguar

Mouthguards are essential in sports, especially high-impact sports like rugby or football. Because of the habit of bumping, falling, or hitting opponents causes chipped or broken teeth. You can purchase mouthguards in stores or designed for your mouth at a pediatric dentist in Milford, CT.

Mouthguards are also helpful if you have problems grinding or clenching your teeth at night. You should talk to your dentist about a mouthguard if you’re concerned about teeth grinding and you play high-impact sports. Your dentist will provide you with professional recommendations.

Why You Should Clean Your Mouthguard

Mouthguards retain bacterial food debris and plaque after you wear them. Mouthguards are porous, providing great places to hide food debris and bacterial plaque. If you don’t clean your mouthguard regularly, it can increase your risk of infection and gum disease. Cleaning your mouthguard properly after every use can remove food debris and bacteria plaque and prevent any infection from occurring again.

How to Clean a Mouth Guard

If you’ve never cleaned your mouthguard before or it’s been a while, you need to clean it deeply. One should also deep clean their mouth guard after being sick or once monthly to remove stubborn bacteria and debris.

Our dentist at Big Smiles Pediatric Dentistry will show you how to clean your mouth guard deep using a denture cleaner. They’ll then explain to you these steps of cleaning a mouth guard.

Rinse the Mouth Guard

Before you start cleaning your mouth guard, please give it a good rinse with cool water to remove surface-level dirt and deposits.

Prepare the Glass

The instructions given by your dentist may vary depending on the brand of dental cleaning tablets you choose. You should always read the manufacturer’s advice before getting started. Generally, you’ll feel a glass with warm water and place your tablets into the cup.

Soak the Mouth Guard

Place your mouth cut into the cup and soak for as long as the brand suggests. This might be between 5 to 30 minutes, but you should always check with the instructions.

Rinse Thoroughly

Remove your mouth guard from the cup and rinse it with cool water. Ensure there’s no tablet residue left on the mouth guard.

Air Dry

Ensure you leave your mouth guard to air dry.

Fill a Sink

After you’ve left your mouth guard to dry, that will be the time to clean the case. However, you can still do everything while your mouth guard is soaking to save time. Fill a sink with warm soapy water.

Clean the Case

Just like you clean dishes, that’s how you’re supposed to clean your mouthguard case. You should soak it in warm soapy water for a few minutes before scrubbing it clean with a sponge or a cloth. Ensure you get into all the crannies and nooks.

Dry

Let your case dry. However, if you want to speed up the process, you can whip it dry with a dish towel.

How to Store a Mouth Guard

After getting a mouth guard near you, it’s essential to keep it in the case when you’re not using it. After you have cleaned it and let it air dry, you should place it in the case so it stays protected and clean. Ensure to clean the case is regularly. Our pediatric dentists recommend that you choose a vented case. This is because when there’s moisture in the case, the vents help air it out to prevent mold or mildew growth.

When to Replace a Mouth Guard

Mouthguards don’t last forever. Our dentists recommend you replace them every one to five years. Some signs to look out for that will help you know that it’s time to get a new mouth guard in Milford, CT, include:

It’s cracked: If you can see through the breakage or crack, you should know it’s time for a new mouth guard.

It doesn’t fit: If your teeth or mouth has changed shape and your mouth guard is too tight or loose, you should get a new one.