Why Clear Retainers Become Cloudy Over Time

Somewhat surprisingly, it can be quietly irritating to remove your retainer from its box after a few days of not using it and to notice that it is no longer clear, but is, in fact, a piece of frosted glass. This transition is very slow and would normally go un-noticed by the wearer for quite a while before discovering that the retainer had become distinctly cloudy. 

There are reasons for this, clear retainers do indeed lose their transparency and they are fairly easy to find. This knowledge will certainly change your cleaning habits, in fact you‘ll understand it for starters, and you‘d be amazed at just how many people now use ultrasonic retainers cleaners as their first choice for retainer maintenance and why dentists then prefer to sell them one.

The Science Behind the Cloudiness.

Retainers (clear) are made from thermopolastic plastics. They are usually white-coloured and most often made of polyurethane (or a plastic of equivalent medical grade) as new materials have a micro-level smooth and even surface that bestows a ‘clean’ appearance that is practically invisible in the mouth. This surface of plastics deteriorates over time in several aspects.

Mineral Deposits from the Saliva and Water.

Saliva is not merely water, as it has calcium and phosphate and a host of proteins that come into contact with the retainer surface for long periods each day. 

As the saliva evaporates on the plastic (during many daily wearings), the minerals precipitate out and form a very thin, but cumulative film. The film layers cause the light to scatter in a manner perceivable as a haze or cloudiness to the eye.

This is even more of a problem with hard tap water, calcium and magnesium crystals combine with the plastic of the retainer while soaking or rinsing in water with mineral concentrations over 200 ppm, following the same dry out process as the protein. 

Slowly over days and weeks the coating hardens and becomes difficult for even an expert to rinse away.  Once formed, only an ultrasonic retainer cleaner and a dissolving tablet will safely shave these mineral bonds off of the retainer without scratching or abrading the surface. If you are dealing with stubborn white film,  then starting a soak cycle with a dissolving tablet in an ultrasonic retainer cleaner often works.

Biofilm: The Layer You Cannot See.

However, bacteria do not just lay on a retainer surface, they organize themselves within a complex community called a biofilm. This sticky, invisible film adheres to thermoplastic with an amazing tenacity, and will build up over time, calcifying into a mineral-bacterium conglomerate that is exponentially more challenging to remove as time passes.  

Brushing alone can undoubtedly annihilate the outermost layer of this shell, but it will not be able to break down the bacteria trapped within the microscopic frights in the retainer‘s surface. 

This, in fact, is where an ultrasonic retainer cleaner shines. The cavitational effect however, which is what causes the implosions of the millions of near-invisible microscopic spheres, can penetrate those tracts where no manual cleaning can possibly venture.

Those who use an ultrasonic retainer cleaner as part of their weekly routine find their appliances discolor more slowly and with less debris visible than they would expect from simply brushing. This is exactly what the ultrasonic retainer cleaner is performing at the outset. Simply running an ultrasonic retainer cleaner for a few minutes a few days a week will eliminate the residue left behind by manual cleaning.

Surface Micro Abrasions.

Every time a retainer is brushed with a toothbrush even with soft bristles the plastic surface is getting tiny scratches. These are too small to be seen alone but added together they make the surface rougher and more prone to attracting dirt and reflecting light. The greyer the retainer looks the more light it is reflecting because rough surfaces reflect far more light than smooth ones.

This is one of the most counterintuitive facts about retainer care,  the more vigorous the cleans, the quicker they will wear, and the faster deterioration will proceed. 

Get the right agents involved (perhaps an ultrasonic retainer cleaner) and the surface of the retainer will be shielded,  while the cleaning is thorough. The ultrasonic does the work, the plastic keeps its polish.

What Speeds the Process Up.

Some habits make retainers go from brightly clear to yellowishness at a much faster pace,  of which the wearer is seldom conscious.

Other than water while a retainer is in, drinking anything with a pigmented dye while a retainer is in is by far the most rapid way to stain a retainer. These pigmented liquids- coffee, tea, wine- adhere to the surface biofilm and penetrate deeply, resulting in a staining intensity far greater than the pigment alone. 

Heat damage is another neglected culprit, as a heated water bowl or warm vehicle can not only deform a retainer but subtly alter the thermoplastic surface. Toothpaste is probably the most used and most damaging retainer cleaning agent.

While multiple tablets have been tried and recommended over the years, in the end most general toothpastes contain abrasive particles that cut through the enamel, the smooth surface in front of the retainer, much more easily than thermoplastic. 

Over time they are accumulated by creating tiny scratches that then build on top of each other. Changing the habit to a retainer specific tablet solution used within an ultrasonic retainer cleaning unit will address the cleaning needs without the surface damage.

Slowing the Clouding Process.

A handful of simple changes to your habits can greatly decrease how often you find clouds gathering.

Rinsing straightaway post-removal before the saliva dries on is one of the largest impactful single-habits. Distilled water is much better than tap water from the rinsing and storage points of view, removing the mineral contribution from hard water, entirely. Not using abrasive materials preserves the surface over time.

When time allows for a thorough pre-soak and cleaning, the old test of a cleaning tablet in distilled water within an ultrasonic retainer cleaner still excels. 

Treating mineral build-up, biofilm, and surface residue without scouring minimizes wear on the plastic and takes care of all three major irritants at once. In fact a wise handful of the beach-front office staff has switched to using ultrasonic cleaner as the default home care for its elderly retention appliances, and you can see why.

If used routinely,  a cleaner that utilizes ultrasound has the potential to significantly prolong the clarity and durability of a clear retainer.

Conclusion.

A clouded retainer isn’t necessary. It’s caused by mineral buildup, bacterial biofilm, and surface shavings slowly clogging up the works and none of these issues is helped at all by user behavior that many have never questioned.  

So, once you understand the origin of the problem, you already know the fix, know the better liquids, use the easier tools, and administer them at more frequent and more gentle intervals. 

In many cases, this translates into using an ultrasonic retainer cleaner on a more regular basis than was ever considered,  not as an occasional solution but as the standard approach. That one change is what will keep a retainer operating as it should, and looking as it was designed to.