How To Care For Your Night Guard

Learn about how to clean your night guard, store it safely, and check the integrity.

Everything You Need to Know About Caring for Your Night Guard

If you have a night guard, whether it is to keep your teeth in place or to prevent you from grinding them during your sleep and protect your smile from the effects of teeth grinding, it is important to care properly for your night guard in order to ensure it will have a long life. If you’ve ever wondered or been unsure of the proper technique of cleaning your night guard, what you should do with it when you’re not using it, or ensuring that it is in good condition with no damage, then you have come to the right place! Here is everything you need to know about caring for your night guard, so you can ensure it continues taking good care of you.

Cleaning your night guard

Every morning after you wake up, you should run your mouth guard under the sink with cool tap water. This will help to rinse it off and help remove saliva and germs that collected on it during the night that might end up damaging it in the long run. This is something you should do on a daily basis upon waking as a quick cleaning process.

Then, at least once per week, you should take the time to clean your mouth guard thoroughly with a toothbrush using toothpaste and mouth rinse. Afterwards, rinse it off thoroughly under the tap. This will help to dispense of any remnants of mouth rinse or toothpaste that may still remain on its surface. After you have finished cleaning it, it is important to make sure that you properly dry it off well prior to placing it back in its storage container. Taking the necessary time to do this goes a long way to help prevent any bacterial growth from occurring inside the container and, consequently, on your night guard.

Another option to the aforementioned routine is to purchase a readily accessible denture cleaner. You can allow your mouthpiece to soak in a bowl with the cleaner as an easy method to keep your mouthpiece spotless when you are short on time. If your mouthpiece is past due for a deep cleaning, you might want to consider this method as well to ensure everything is removed from it thoroughly.

If denture cleaner isn’t your preferred choice for a thorough cleansing, then you can consider using a mixture of vinegar and hydrogen peroxide as a soaking solution. This will work just fine as well. Be sure to allow the mouthpiece to soak for at least 30 minutes, before rinsing and removing it from the solution to dry.

It is not only crucial to keep your dental guard clean at all times, but you can’t neglect the container either! Cleaning your custom mouth guard and placing it into a not-so-clean case can contaminate the mouthpiece with unwanted germs that could lead to an oral infection or illness, making your efforts to clean the mouth guard in the first place a complete waste of time. Make sure to wash out the container with hot water and soap, as to kill any bacteria on the surface, then rinse off the soap and allow it to dry before placing it back inside.

Storing your night guard

After your mouthpiece has been used, keep it in the case it came in, rather than allowing it to sit out on your nightstand or elsewhere in your bedroom or bathroom. Warmer temperatures can cause it to warp and distort, so it is best to keep it in a dry, cool location—not to mention, leaving your mouth guard out also exposes it to the germs in the room you are keeping it in. Ideally, you want to store it someplace other than the bathroom, because the warm temperatures in the bathroom can begin to warp it, ruining its fit and function.

The case is just as important as the guard itself, so take diligent care of the case in order to extend its longevity. The case protects the custom mouthpiece from damage, dust, and contaminants. In addition to keeping it away from germs, it provides the mouth guard with optimal air circulation, which deters mildew build-up and deterioration, keeping it fitting your teeth snugly and doing its job of protecting your teeth each and every night.

Checking your night guard

During your weekly cleaning process, this is also the most opportune moment to you’re your mouth guard a weekly inspection for any potential damage. After you finish cleaning it, you can do this by looking at it closely and thoroughly, being on the lookout for any tears or rips in the material, as well as any deterioration. These pieces are built to last, but over time, the constant grinding may begin to show damage on the mouth guard itself.

As an extra precaution, take your mouth guard with you to the dentist for a closer inspection from a professional’s keen eye. The dentist is also an ideal source of information for proper care, and can provide any necessary tips to further enhance your knowledge regarding handling your custom mouth guard.

If you find any signs of damage on your custom night guard, stop using your current one immediately and purchase a new one as a replacement. It’s not recommended or safe to use a damaged mouth guard, as it will not provide your teeth with anywhere near the same protection, and if a piece of the material becomes separated from the rest of the night guard, this could possibly result in an unforeseen injury.

Ordering online from EasyTeethGuard.com can save you hundreds of dollars on a custom mouth guard for grinding teeth. A dentist can charge anywhere from $300 to $500, and sometimes even more. Directly from a professional lab, EasyTeethGuard is committed to a custom, comfortable fit, and offers a 110% money back guarantee. That’s what makes EasyTeethGuard the cheapest, most convenient, and most effective solution for those who grind their teeth in their sleep.