Why a retainer, night guard or denture turns cloudy in the first place
Appliances collect film, stain and mineral deposits during daily wear. The instinctive response is to brush harder — but on some thermoplastics, aggressive or abrasive brushing can roughen the surface over time, which only gives buildup more places to grip. Rinsing with water lifts loose debris but doesn't touch the biofilm layer underneath, and once that film mineralises it hardens into the white or yellow crust that no amount of scrubbing moves.
That's the loop most retainer-cleaning and denture-cleaning routines get stuck in: more visible buildup, more effort, no real fix. Anything that claims to clean a retainer, aligner, night guard, mouthguard or denture needs to solve two separate problems at once — the biofilm and stain sitting on the surface, and the hardened mineral shell underneath it.
OxyLift™ Three-Stage Release
ClearSoak is an oxygen-based cleaning tablet, not a chlorine-based one, so there's none of the sharp chemical smell associated with chlorine-releasing cleaning crystals. Every tablet runs the same three-stage reaction:
1. Penetrate
Bicarbonate and citric acid generate effervescent micro-bubbles that carry solution into every scratch and crevice a bristle physically cannot enter.
2. Oxidise
Sodium percarbonate releases active oxygen, activated by TAED to work at ordinary tap-water temperature — breaking down biofilm and stain instead of smearing it around the surface.
3. Release the mineral
A high citric-acid load, 20–40%, attacks the calcium in hardened deposits and loosens the crust a brush cannot shift.
The tablet dissolves completely, so there's no particulate left behind to abrade the surface — a non-abrasive alternative to brushing with toothpaste.
One soak, every appliance
ClearSoak is formulated to work as a retainer cleaner, night guard cleaner, mouthguard cleaner and denture cleaner from the same box of tablets.
Retainers & aligners
Clear aligner trays, Essix and Hawley retainers, post-treatment retention
Night guards & bite guards
Bruxism guards, dental night guards, overnight bite splints
Sports mouthguards
Boil-and-bite and custom mouthguards between practices and games
Dentures & partials
Full and partial dentures, as a daily denture-cleaning-tablet routine
Whitening & bleaching trays
Teeth whitening trays and bleaching trays between treatments
No hardware required
No cables, no charging port, no counter-space device — just a tablet and warm water
Sports mouthguards, reset between games
A gym-bag mouthguard picks up a stale taste fast, and there's rarely a sink handy five minutes before practice. Drop the mouthguard in a cup of water with a ClearSoak tablet the night before, rinse it in the morning, and it's ready for the bag — no scrubbing, no leftover soap taste from a bar-soap rinse.
Whitening and bleaching trays
Whitening trays and bleaching trays pick up gel residue and film between treatments the same way retainers do. A fifteen-minute soak clears the tray without introducing an abrasive paste or scrub brush into a thin, easily scratched piece of plastic.
A retainer routine teens will actually keep
For an Essix or Hawley retainer fresh out of orthodontic treatment, the cleaning habit matters as much as the retainer itself — a routine that's easy to stick with protects a multi-year investment. A fifteen-minute soak with no brushing involved is a routine that's realistic to actually keep up, teen or not.
How to clean a retainer, night guard or denture with ClearSoak
- Fill a cup or soaking tray with warm tap water — no need to heat it.
- Drop in one ClearSoak tablet and let it fully dissolve.
- Soak your retainer, night guard, mouthguard or denture for fifteen minutes.
- Rinse under running water and it's ready to wear — no scrubbing required.
Full ingredient transparency
Published openly, not buried in a footnote:
| Ingredient | Role |
|---|---|
| Sodium bicarbonate | Effervescent base — generates the micro-bubbles that carry solution into crevices |
| Citric acid (20–40%) | Attacks and loosens hardened mineral deposits |
| Sodium percarbonate | Releases active oxygen for stain and biofilm breakdown |
| TAED | Activates the oxygen release at tap-water temperature |
| Potassium peroxymonosulfate (10–20%) | Oxidising agent supporting the cleaning reaction |
| Peppermint oil | Flavour |
| FD&C Blue No. 2 | Colour |
Common questions
- Is it safe to put my retainer back in my mouth after soaking?
- Rinse thoroughly under running water after the fifteen-minute soak, then wear as normal.
- Will it work on old, built-up trays?
- For heavier buildup, a longer soak helps the oxygen and citric-acid stages work through the deposit. It won't undo permanent scratching from past abrasive cleaning, but it will lift the film and mineral crust sitting on top.
- Isn't this just a denture tablet with a different label?
- The reaction category is shared across the industry — what differs is the specific formula, the citric-acid load, and that it's built and labelled for retainers, aligners, night guards and mouthguards as well as dentures.
- Do I still need an ultrasonic cleaner?
- No. ClearSoak is designed to work as a standalone soak — no device, cables or charging required.
- How often should I clean my retainer, night guard or mouthguard?
- Daily is the routine most people settle into — a fifteen-minute soak fits around a morning or evening rinse without adding a scrubbing step.
- Will it get the stale taste out of a sports mouthguard?
- Yes — the same oxygen-and-citric-acid soak that lifts film and stain from a retainer works on a mouthguard between practices.
Guarantee
Soak for 30 days. If your trays aren't visibly clearer and the smell isn't gone, email us and we'll refund you — keep the tablets.