Why Do Dogs Eat Retainers?

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If you are one of the 12 million people in the United States that are currently wearing braces, Invisalign, or other teeth-straightening treatments, you’ll need a retainer after your dental work is complete. Retainers are dental devices that keep your teeth in place and prevent them from shifting back to their natural position. If you choose to not wear a retainer after your orthodontic work, you risk the chance that your expensive smile being reduced to its previous form. Pets also pose a risk to your smile especially when dogs eat retainers.

Why Are Dogs Attracted To Retainers

For various reasons, retainers are lost, cracked, or cross the point of no return for smells and yellow spots. If you are one of the 63 million households in America that owns a dog, you have another danger to your retainer. Your four-legged best friend will likely be attracted to your dental wear and retainer. Why do dogs eat retainers? That’s a great question, and Sporting Smiles is here to answer that and help teach preventative matters from your dog chewing up your retainers.

Dogs have over 300 million olfactory receptors located in their nose compared to the six million that humans have. Their sense of smell is much stronger and is the reason they are always sniffing around. Growing inside your mouth is tiny bacteria that smells. It causes bad breath and paired with tiny particles of food stuck in your teeth, your mouth is a smelly haven for dogs. When you wear your retainer overnight, the smell, saliva, and natural odors of your mouth become trapped in your retainer. Your body naturally deposits minerals in your saliva like calcium and sodium, which then are encrusted onto your retainer.

How To Prevent Your Dog From Eating Your Retainer

How do you stop your dog from eating your retainer? The number one prevention is keeping a clean retainer. The nose knows, and a dog can smell a stinky retainer a mile away. If you neglect to clean your retainer daily, then you run the risk of your retainer becoming more attractive to your dog. Even if your retainer storage case is closed, your dog can smell it through the plastic. If you keep your retainer storage case on your nightstand, and your dog has smelled it before, they’ll know where to look. Your dog is smart. They remember smells, and they remember where they come from.

Sporting Smiles recommends giving your retainer a daily cleaning after taking it off in the morning and before placing it back in your retainer case. For 30 seconds, use unscented antibacterial hand soap and gently scrub your retainers with a soft bristle toothbrush under warm running water. The cleansing should remove the biofilm and saliva from your retainer making it much less attractive to your pet. Implement this into your morning routine, and don’t forget to clean the case once a week. A clean retainer that doesn’t have odors will keep your dog’s nose away.

Dogs seek out items to chew on. Chewing on rubber, plastic, or a bone feels good on their teeth and helps them relax. It also builds up their jaw muscles making it a natural developing habit for puppies. Even if your retainer is odor-free you still aren’t in the clear. You’ll need to add extra layers of safety. A clear plastic retainer or a wired one may look unappealing to you, but because retainers are small, dogs will find them attractive to chew on even if they aren’t stinky. Try placing your retainers inside their storage case in a drawer or a place inaccessible to your pet. If left lying out on your nightstand, there’s only so much your storage case can protect before your dog chews that up and finds your expensive retainers. Dogs are natural hunters. They use their nose and their mouth in almost every daily activity that they do. Finding smelly, plastic things to chew on is a game to them. Do your best to keep your retainers clean, and out of sight to better protect them and your wallet.

Retainer Replacement - Set

Get Replacement Retainers

At Sporting Smiles, we understand that accidents happen. That’s why we make replacement retainer at half the cost of the dentist, and no visits are required. In three easy steps, you can replace your smelly or chewed up retainers. Visit Cheap Online Retainers for Teeth | Affordable Essix Clear Retainers | SportingSmiles and order an impression kit. Take your impressions and send the kit back to us, and our experienced dental lab technicians will craft your retainers and ship them back to you! No need to leave your home, no expensive costs. We’ve found that our retainers save customers over 50 percent compared to what they’d pay at the dentist. Our customers also get up to 35 percent off on reorders in case your dog finds your retainer.

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1 comment

Eric May 17, 2021 - 1:25 pm

My dog won’t leave my retainer alone. He is obsessed with it so much that I had to reorder a new one from you. I’ll be protecting it better this time.

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