How Often Should You Clean Your Night Guard And Why!

Custom night guards are the best option to control the effects of bruxism in an inexpensive way. But maintaining these dental guards is another story. The guards have small crevices to fit perfectly on your teeth. These crevices offer the ideal environment for bacteria and germs to breed if not cleaned properly. This can significantly affect your oral health. 

But most people don’t know how to properly clean a dental guard to increase its shelf life and durability. That’s why we’ve designed this guide to help you understand how to clean your night guard, when to clean it, and how to store it.

Why You Should Clean Your Dental Guards

Maintain Hygiene

Your dental guard stays in your mouth throughout the night, providing a warm and moisture-inducing environment that promotes bacterial growth and germ build-up. If you don’t clean your dental guard, it’ll negatively affect your oral hygiene and can lead to bad breath, mouth infections, and other oral health issues. On the other hand, a clean dental guard keeps your oral health intact and offers protection against bruxism.

Increase Durability

Your dental guards will last long if you take care of them. But taking care doesn’t mean only keeping them safe in a case. It means ensuring they’re neat and clean. 

An unclean dental guard can lead to mold development that’s cut the life of the dental guard short. You’ll have to shell out more money to get a new one. Instead of doing all that, you can keep the one you have clean, and it’ll last a long time and will maintain its shape and fit.

Prevent Tooth Decay And Plaque

If you’re not cleaning your dental guard regularly, chances are it has a lot of build-ups in it. Sometimes this build-up isn’t visible, but it’s there. Your oral health isn’t the best when you wake up, and adding a dirty dental guard to the mix will just make things worse. 

Not to mention, over time, the dirty dental guard will start damaging the teeth and affecting your oral hygiene. In the long run, it can also eat away your enamel layer, exposing your teeth and increasing their sensitivity.

Increase Effectiveness

Since custom night guards are made to fit your exact dental profile, there’s not much room in them. So if you’re not cleaning your dental guards, chances are they’ll have plenty of build-up from being used each night. 

After a while, this build-up will not only start ruining the dental guard but will also offer a poor fit. Once the dental guard doesn’t fit properly, it won’t be as effective as before, and you’ll end up with jaw pain and headaches again.

How Often Should You Clean Your Dental Guard?

Before And After Each Wear

Each time you wear your dental guard, make sure to clean it before putting it on. Small particles of dust might get in no matter how clean and safe you keep your guards. 

A quick wash under the faucet will do. Once you’re done wearing it, you should give it a more thorough clean because there’s considerable germ build-up in your mouth overnight, so in the morning, use a toothbrush to clean your mouthguard just as you would with your teeth.

Deep Clean Once In A While

Just rinsing the mouthguard after each wear isn’t enough because, eventually, there will be build-up in it that’s not good for your teeth. So you’ll have to deep clean it once in a while. This is done depending on your usage, but giving the guards a deep clean every 2 weeks is ideal. 

For the cleaning, you can use a strong mouthwash or even soap to dissolve all the build-up and use a brush to scrub the insides of the guard. Anything you can try is soaking it in warm water for 30 minutes. Just make sure the water isn’t too hot, just warm enough to melt all the build-up.

Tips For Cleaning Your Mouthguard

Use A Toothbrush

The easiest method to clean your night guards is to use a toothbrush. It doesn’t have to be the one you use for yourself, but keep in mind not to use an old toothbrush. That's because old toothbrushes contain build-up that can get deposited in your dental guard’s crevices. 

Also, make sure the toothbrush you use has soft bristles so it doesn’t scratch the outer layer of the guard after repeated use. A toothbrush with a small head will better reach all the crevices easily.

Let It Air Dry

A common mistake people make is to use heating tools to dry their dental guards. Heating tools release high heat that can distort the shape of the mold, which means that the guard won’t fit your properly the next time you wear it. 

Moreover, using any heating tools will also damage the composition and create bubbles in the plastic. This can be hazardous for your health and ruin the purpose of a dental guard.

Keep In A Clean Spot

Make sure the place you’re storing your dental guards is also clean and germ-free. Usually, mouthguards come in custom cases, so you don’t have to worry about finding a place to keep them safe. But you should always make sure the case is clean. 

Washing it thoroughly at least once a week and letting it air dry is the right way to prevent any dirt or germ accumulation in the case. Moreover, if you don’t dry it thoroughly, the plastic case can develop mold that’ll also damage your mouthguard.

Store In A Case

You must store the cleaned dental guard in a proper case to protect it from getting any dirt or dust. Since the dental guards have small crevices, they can easily accumulate dust and then can later get into your mouth. These small dust particles might get stuck in your gums and damage them. 

So once you’re done wearing your dental guard, clean it thoroughly and place it in the case. Make sure you keep the case in a cool and dry place to prevent any moisture from getting into your dental guards and damaging them.

Get High-Quality, Custom Night Guards From Clear Comfort Night Guards

A custom dental guard fits your teeth profile perfectly and helps you relieve symptoms of bruxism, sleep apnea, and teeth clenching. Clear Comfort Night Guards is an LA-based dental lab offering custom dental guards made from high-quality materials.

These dental guards are made by trained technicians who use your exact teeth profile to make sure the guard fits you perfectly. When you order from Clear Comfort Night Guard’s website, you get an impression kit that’s used to create an accurate mold of your teeth to help the technicians create the guards.

Our dental guards come in different varieties, including soft dental guards, hard ones, and ultra-hard ones. Additionally, we also sell lightweight ultra-soft dental guards for daytime bruxism. You can even take our helpful quiz to figure out which dental guard will fit you best.

Besides that, we also offer fast shipping, a money-back guarantee, and easy returns. Check out our collection and order your dental guards today!