Do dentists recommend using an ultrasonic cleaner for my night guard? (2024) - Dr. Shiva Soleimani

Dr. Shiva Soleimani: Video Summary 

Dr. Shiva Soleimani: The Dental pod effectively cleans night guards. It cleans quickly, efficiently, and with little to no effort on your part. You also don’t need to worry about damaging your appliance. I recommend that you use the Dental pod to clean your night guard every morning after you wake up.

Click here to order your Dental pod now for a sparkling clean night guard!

Dr. Soleimani what experience do you have with night guard?

I am the founder of Solay Dental in Oldsmar, Florida, serving patients in and around the communities of Tampa, Westchase, and Palm Harbor.

I am a driven, passionate general dentist with a wide range of experience in various aspects of dentistry and is focused on providing comprehensive care for dental patients at our office.

I have treated many patients with a variety of oral appliances to be worn during sleep including night guards, bite guards, mouthguards and bruxism devices.

Do I really need to clean my night guard?

My patients with night guards often wake in the morning with jaw pain, a dry mouth and an unclean appliance.

The dark and moist environment of our mouths make night guards optimal breeding grounds for bacteria, yeast and mould.

A study using microscopes to look at dental plastics found that they can be heavily colonized by bacteria after 1 hour of use.

Germs found on night guards can lead to sore throats, nausea, colds, flu, chest infections and even asthma, strep and staph infections.

Additionally, your night guard also has the potential to be a reservoir for bacteria that can cause gum infections and promote tooth decay.

You need to approach cleaning your night guard similarly to how you clean your teeth.

I recommend that you clean your night guard using the Dental pod after you wake up each morning – simple!

What is an ultrasonic night guard cleaner?

The Dental pod is an ultrasonic night guard cleaner.

An ultrasonic cleaner is a vibrating water bath.

The Dental pod uses high-frequency 42,000 Hz ultrasonic waves to vibrate a cleaning solution and produce millions of nano-scale bubbles.

The intense vibrations and millions of bubbles deep clean your night guard at a microscopic level.

Is an ultrasonic night guard cleaner necessary?

Old methods of cleaning night guards aren’t effective at removing bacteria and plaque that could be harmful to your health.

A study using microscopes to look at dental plastics found that traditional cleaning methods, such as rinsing with water and soaking in a chemical solution, remove significantly fewer microorganisms than ultrasonic cleaning with a sterilizing tablet.

Debris and microorganisms are found in the rough surfaces of your night guard which are hard to clean with traditional methods.

The Dental pod is able to deep clean these hard-to-reach areas of your night guard.

Do ultrasonic night guard cleaners actually work?

The British Dental Journal stated that the Dental pod is a convenient way to deep clean oral appliances.

Research has found that ultrasonic cleaners cleaned dental plastics better than traditional cleaning methods including rinsing with water and soaking with a chemical solution.

Ultrasonic and chemical cleaning are very different.

Your night guard can benefit from performing both types of cleaning.

I suggest using sterilizing tablets with the Dental pod.

Is it safe to clean my night guard with an ultrasonic cleaner?

The continued use of an ultrasonic cleaner with your night guard does not cause any damage over time.

The ultrasonic cleaning method is completely non-abrasive, it has been widely used and trusted within the clinical dental and medical fields for decades.

Night guards can be damaged by excessive heat.

This is why it is important to purchase an ultrasonic cleaner that is specifically designed for oral appliances like the Dental pod, as other models can generate heat which can damage dental plastics.

Are ultrasonic cleaners safe for my type of night guard?

The Zima Dental team have tested the following types of night time oral appliances to make sure they can be safely and effectively cleaned:

How do ultrasonic cleaners clean my night guard?

Ultrasonic cleaners generate high-frequency vibrations. Vibrations clean your night guard in two ways:

1. The liquid is forced against the surface of your night guard when vibrating, deep cleaning the appliance. 

2. Tiny bubbles formed by the intense vibration of the cleaner rapidly expand and collapse, releasing a large amount of energy, continuously scouring and smashing the grime, bacteria and plaque while being non-abrasive to your night guard.

In the Dental pod, the 2nd action (called ‘cavitation’) occurs on average 4000 times per second. All surfaces and gaps of your night guard are continuously cleaned in a short but thorough cleaning cycle.

Is it easy to clean my night guard with an ultrasonic cleaner? 

There are only 4 simple steps to clean your night guard with an ultrasonic cleaner:

• Fill the Dental pod with water and add a sterilizing tablet

Fill the Dental pod with room temperature water and plug it into a wall socket.

Drop in a sterilizing tablet to increase the cleaning effect. 

• Place your night guard in the water

Drop your night guard into the water in the Dental pod.

Your night guard must be fully submerged in the liquid to receive the full effects of ultrasonic cleaning.

• Turn on the Dental pod

Put the lid on the Dental pod, turn the machine on and let it run for 5 minutes.

Studies have shown that 5 minutes is the perfect amount of time to leave your oral appliance in the cleaner.

• Retrieve your clean night guard from the Dental pod

Your night guard will now be sparkling clean!

I hope that you’re now more confident about taking care of your night guard. If you need more advice, please don’t hesitate to contact Zima Dental customer support at support@zimadental.ca