“I found Evertain while looking for a more cost effective way to replace my son’s retainers after the dog ate them for the 2nd time. The way we were going, it was going to cost more to keep my son in retainers than the orthodontic treatment itself. I was skeptical at first, but Evertain put their money where their mouth is and now I am a true believer. I got two sets of retainers, a set of whitening trays, and a 3 year replacement plan all for what I would have spent at the orthodontist for a single set of retainers. Now my dog is happy, my son is happy and so is my wallet.” John S. from Pennsylvania
Thanks for the super feedback John from PA! We hear this all the time when people join the Evertain retainer replacement program, but it never gets old. We love helping people find an affordable solution to replace their lost or broken retainers.
You can see for yourself why Evertain is the most affordable way to replace retainers and protect yourself against future loss or breakage - even if a hungry dog eats your retainers! Visit http://www.evertain.com/ for info on Evertain Direct, John from PA's choice, or any of our custom whitening systems and sports mouthguards all available without a visist to your dentist.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Lost or broken retainer? Evertain Direct saves the day...
6 out of 10. Sixty percent. A majority or retainer wearers. That is the actual statistic of how many people in the Evertain program lose or break their retainers within their fist six months as members.
That number is real. That number means you will probably need to call Evertain or visit your doctor for replacement retainers if you are one of the millions of people wearing them today. Our retainer replacement and protection service, Evertain, receives tons of calls each day from that 60 percentile. We hear all the stories, dogs eating retainers, retainers mysteriously dissapearing, thrown away by accident, broken retainers, stolen retainers, we hear it all.
Lately something else has starting happening. Times are tough, every precious dollar people have left over each month is guarded like never before. Moms and dads and the teens calling us at Evertain are all telling us they just can't afford to replace their retainer based on the price they were given at the doctor's office. We are hearing prices from the doctor of $150 per retainer. $200 per retainer. Up to $300 for each retainer in some markets. Those prices get your retainer replaced, but what happens when, not if, you lose or break a retainer again?
Evertain was created for that very scenario - the 60% of you out there - who will lose or break your retainers. Evertain makes worrying about lost or broken retainers a thing of the past. So we listened to what people were telling us. We know how tough times are and how expensive retainers can be, so we came up with a great solution.
Evertain now offers replacement retainers for as little as $99 per retainer. That means you can replace a lost or broken retainer for just $99! What is even better is that you can now replace your retainer without visiting the doctor by taking a mold of your teeth on your own which keeps your precious dollars AND precious time safe and sound! The mold is easy to do and in the testing Evertain conducted 90% of them came back to us perfect and resulted in the same precise fitting retainer you were wearing before.
You can read more about this new $99 retainer replacement service and retainer protection plans starting at just $249 by visiting www.evertain.com .
Here is how it works -
You visit http://www.evertain.com/ and pick the replacement service or one of our protection programs that come with unlimited replacement. You click on the Order/Enroll button of the plan you have chosen, fill in the info we need, and a kit with everything you need is sent to your shipping address. Simply follow the illustrated instructions, take your own mold, and send it back to Evertain with the pre-paid shipping label included in your kit. A few days later you receive professional quality retainers made by a dentist.
Simple to afford, simple to do, simply your most economical way to replace retainers and protect them agains future loss or breakage.
That number is real. That number means you will probably need to call Evertain or visit your doctor for replacement retainers if you are one of the millions of people wearing them today. Our retainer replacement and protection service, Evertain, receives tons of calls each day from that 60 percentile. We hear all the stories, dogs eating retainers, retainers mysteriously dissapearing, thrown away by accident, broken retainers, stolen retainers, we hear it all.
Lately something else has starting happening. Times are tough, every precious dollar people have left over each month is guarded like never before. Moms and dads and the teens calling us at Evertain are all telling us they just can't afford to replace their retainer based on the price they were given at the doctor's office. We are hearing prices from the doctor of $150 per retainer. $200 per retainer. Up to $300 for each retainer in some markets. Those prices get your retainer replaced, but what happens when, not if, you lose or break a retainer again?
Evertain was created for that very scenario - the 60% of you out there - who will lose or break your retainers. Evertain makes worrying about lost or broken retainers a thing of the past. So we listened to what people were telling us. We know how tough times are and how expensive retainers can be, so we came up with a great solution.
Evertain now offers replacement retainers for as little as $99 per retainer. That means you can replace a lost or broken retainer for just $99! What is even better is that you can now replace your retainer without visiting the doctor by taking a mold of your teeth on your own which keeps your precious dollars AND precious time safe and sound! The mold is easy to do and in the testing Evertain conducted 90% of them came back to us perfect and resulted in the same precise fitting retainer you were wearing before.
You can read more about this new $99 retainer replacement service and retainer protection plans starting at just $249 by visiting www.evertain.com .
Here is how it works -
You visit http://www.evertain.com/ and pick the replacement service or one of our protection programs that come with unlimited replacement. You click on the Order/Enroll button of the plan you have chosen, fill in the info we need, and a kit with everything you need is sent to your shipping address. Simply follow the illustrated instructions, take your own mold, and send it back to Evertain with the pre-paid shipping label included in your kit. A few days later you receive professional quality retainers made by a dentist.
Simple to afford, simple to do, simply your most economical way to replace retainers and protect them agains future loss or breakage.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Cleaning and caring for retainers
Bad smells, gross white build up and bacteria - if you wear a retainer you have faced one or all of these conditions at some point. You have also, more than likely, tried various types of retainer cases as well. Here are my opinions on what works best and why.
Cleaning retainers is a hotly debated topic. Opinions are all over the place. From brushing with toothpaste to soaking in mouthwash and creating your own bleach and water solution to soak them in. There are a number of products out there that are marketed as retainer cleansers as well.
Let's start with brushing. This is often the advice from orthodontists. For years I ran a company that manufactured the plastics and other materials that are used to build retainers. We found that brushing retainers with toothpaste is the worst method you could possibly use. Toothpaste works, in part, as an abrasive agent to help remove stubborn plaque and surface stains from your teeth. This abrasive quality to toothpaste will actually scratch the plastic and/or acrylic your retainer is made with. These scratches will weaken the retainer over time and create a rough surface that will help plaque and stains stick to your retainer. Brushing your retainer with toothpaste is by far the worst way to keep a retainer clean.
Using bleach to clean your retainer is also a bad idea in my opinion. Chlorine bleach used for household cleaning and laundry applications is a pretty caustic product. Think about what happens when bleach is splashed on your clothes, it will "bleach" out the color and in some cases even "burn" holes right through the fabric. Using diluted bleach in a water solution to clean your retainer will eventually destroy the plastics and/or acrylics your retainer is made with.
Soaking retainers in mouthwash is another bad idea. Most mouthwashes are primarily made from alcohol. At the company I worked for that made the materials your retainer is built with we found that alcohol, over time, would ruin the plastics and/or acrylics. A chemical reaction occurs between alcohol and the material your retainer is made from causing those materials to become brittle and weak. This leads to premature cracking and breakage.
I would avoid brushing, bleaching, and soaking your retainers in mouthwash.
There are several products on the market that are touted as retainer cleaners or cleansers. A search in Google or Yahoo! will yield four or five of them. There are three categories; tablets, liquid, and powder.
The company I worked for that I keep talking about also marketed a tablet product. The not so big secret is that ALL the tablet products are really just denture cleaning tablets marketed under a different name. That is not necessarily a negative, but dentures and retainers are vastly different devices. What is negative about tablets, however, is that you have to wait for them to dissolve for the active ingredients in them to begin cleaning your retainer. I have tried almost every tablet out there, again they are all identical, and I have found that they leave a film on the retainers I have cleaned. At Evertain we make mountains of retainers which has allowed us to test cleaning methods extensively. Retainer cleaning tablets take too long to dissolve and don't rinse cleanly. Furthermore, most tablets suggest you use "warm" water, but not "hot" water for soaking. When plastics are heated and cooled, even slightly, over and over again they will eventually break. I would not recommend using warm water and I am not a fan of any of the tablets out there.
There is a liquid retainer cleaner or two out there as well. These products are better than the tablets, but also have their issues. I like the fact that, with one of them, you don't have to mix anything. I don't like the fact that it can spill easily when shipping and traveling with a liquid product. Overall the cleaning results were average, nothing special - nothing really negative. I would recommend the liquid cleaners, without alcohol, over the tablets.
Now I will disclose to you that I am biased about all of this because I own and operate a company called Evertain that manufactures a powdered cleaner called RetainerFresh!. However, that bias isn't just because I would love it if you purchased RetainerFresh!, but that bias also comes from the pride I have in how the product was developed and how well it cleans retainers.
RetainerFresh! was designed for us by an actual dentist to clean retainers and other similar dental products. We make it in the USA and package it in the USA in small batches and we are crazy about the quality of RetainerFresh!. We designed it to clean really well and really fast - 5 minutes soak time! We made sure it worked in cold water, hard water, soft water, tap water, bottled water, you name it. We designed it to rinse super clean. We also formulated it without a compound called sodium laurel sulfate or SLS. SLS has been linked to the formation of oral canker sores in some studies - we thought that was a pretty dumb thing to put in a product that cleans something that goes in your mouth. We are really proud of the performance and quality of the cleaner we came up with and have tested it up against all the other products and methods above. RetainerFresh! is available online at www.retainerfresh.com but not available in stores.
Please carefully consider how you chose to clean your retainer - you'll need to wear it for as long as you want to have a straight smile!
Storing retainers is a much easier decision to make - if it isn't in your mouth or being cleaned it needs to be in a good case. There are many, many styles of cases. In my opinion, the best design is a hard-sided clam shell case. Holes or vents for air circulation are crucial as they help prohibit anything really gross from growing on your retainer. You should always store your retainer as dry as possible for the same reason - a wet retainer in a plastic box will encourage all sorts of things to start growing on it. Ideally you should clean your retainer, rinse it with clean water, pat it dry with paper towels, and store it dry in a case if you are not going to wear it right away. Do not wrap it in a napkin and place it on your tray in the school cafeteria or restaurant - it will get tossed out! See the post about that on here.
Dogs are obsessed with retainers! Keep your retainer out of reach or it will get gobbled up by a dog. We hear about this all the time at Evertain. One mother enrolled her son in the Evertain retainer program after their dogs had eaten at least three retainers. Evertain has replaced two sets to date for her for the same reason.
Heat is a big enemy of retainers. Keep retainers out of hot cars, away from radiator grills and heaters in homes. Don't store them in direct sunlight either. Heat will cause the plastics to expand and contract and will eventually lead to breakage.
Retainers are the only thing that will keep your teeth straight after braces. You have to wear your retainers precisely as instructed by your doctor for as long as he/she tells you to. If you don't your teeth will slowly creep back into their old positions and all your hard work in braces and the expense incurred with your treatment will be a big waste! Properly cleaning and caring for your retainers is a critical component to making them last and ensuring you can follow through with the most important phase of treatment - Life Retained!
Cleaning retainers is a hotly debated topic. Opinions are all over the place. From brushing with toothpaste to soaking in mouthwash and creating your own bleach and water solution to soak them in. There are a number of products out there that are marketed as retainer cleansers as well.
Let's start with brushing. This is often the advice from orthodontists. For years I ran a company that manufactured the plastics and other materials that are used to build retainers. We found that brushing retainers with toothpaste is the worst method you could possibly use. Toothpaste works, in part, as an abrasive agent to help remove stubborn plaque and surface stains from your teeth. This abrasive quality to toothpaste will actually scratch the plastic and/or acrylic your retainer is made with. These scratches will weaken the retainer over time and create a rough surface that will help plaque and stains stick to your retainer. Brushing your retainer with toothpaste is by far the worst way to keep a retainer clean.
Using bleach to clean your retainer is also a bad idea in my opinion. Chlorine bleach used for household cleaning and laundry applications is a pretty caustic product. Think about what happens when bleach is splashed on your clothes, it will "bleach" out the color and in some cases even "burn" holes right through the fabric. Using diluted bleach in a water solution to clean your retainer will eventually destroy the plastics and/or acrylics your retainer is made with.
Soaking retainers in mouthwash is another bad idea. Most mouthwashes are primarily made from alcohol. At the company I worked for that made the materials your retainer is built with we found that alcohol, over time, would ruin the plastics and/or acrylics. A chemical reaction occurs between alcohol and the material your retainer is made from causing those materials to become brittle and weak. This leads to premature cracking and breakage.
I would avoid brushing, bleaching, and soaking your retainers in mouthwash.
There are several products on the market that are touted as retainer cleaners or cleansers. A search in Google or Yahoo! will yield four or five of them. There are three categories; tablets, liquid, and powder.
The company I worked for that I keep talking about also marketed a tablet product. The not so big secret is that ALL the tablet products are really just denture cleaning tablets marketed under a different name. That is not necessarily a negative, but dentures and retainers are vastly different devices. What is negative about tablets, however, is that you have to wait for them to dissolve for the active ingredients in them to begin cleaning your retainer. I have tried almost every tablet out there, again they are all identical, and I have found that they leave a film on the retainers I have cleaned. At Evertain we make mountains of retainers which has allowed us to test cleaning methods extensively. Retainer cleaning tablets take too long to dissolve and don't rinse cleanly. Furthermore, most tablets suggest you use "warm" water, but not "hot" water for soaking. When plastics are heated and cooled, even slightly, over and over again they will eventually break. I would not recommend using warm water and I am not a fan of any of the tablets out there.
There is a liquid retainer cleaner or two out there as well. These products are better than the tablets, but also have their issues. I like the fact that, with one of them, you don't have to mix anything. I don't like the fact that it can spill easily when shipping and traveling with a liquid product. Overall the cleaning results were average, nothing special - nothing really negative. I would recommend the liquid cleaners, without alcohol, over the tablets.
Now I will disclose to you that I am biased about all of this because I own and operate a company called Evertain that manufactures a powdered cleaner called RetainerFresh!. However, that bias isn't just because I would love it if you purchased RetainerFresh!, but that bias also comes from the pride I have in how the product was developed and how well it cleans retainers.
RetainerFresh! was designed for us by an actual dentist to clean retainers and other similar dental products. We make it in the USA and package it in the USA in small batches and we are crazy about the quality of RetainerFresh!. We designed it to clean really well and really fast - 5 minutes soak time! We made sure it worked in cold water, hard water, soft water, tap water, bottled water, you name it. We designed it to rinse super clean. We also formulated it without a compound called sodium laurel sulfate or SLS. SLS has been linked to the formation of oral canker sores in some studies - we thought that was a pretty dumb thing to put in a product that cleans something that goes in your mouth. We are really proud of the performance and quality of the cleaner we came up with and have tested it up against all the other products and methods above. RetainerFresh! is available online at www.retainerfresh.com but not available in stores.
Please carefully consider how you chose to clean your retainer - you'll need to wear it for as long as you want to have a straight smile!
Storing retainers is a much easier decision to make - if it isn't in your mouth or being cleaned it needs to be in a good case. There are many, many styles of cases. In my opinion, the best design is a hard-sided clam shell case. Holes or vents for air circulation are crucial as they help prohibit anything really gross from growing on your retainer. You should always store your retainer as dry as possible for the same reason - a wet retainer in a plastic box will encourage all sorts of things to start growing on it. Ideally you should clean your retainer, rinse it with clean water, pat it dry with paper towels, and store it dry in a case if you are not going to wear it right away. Do not wrap it in a napkin and place it on your tray in the school cafeteria or restaurant - it will get tossed out! See the post about that on here.
Dogs are obsessed with retainers! Keep your retainer out of reach or it will get gobbled up by a dog. We hear about this all the time at Evertain. One mother enrolled her son in the Evertain retainer program after their dogs had eaten at least three retainers. Evertain has replaced two sets to date for her for the same reason.
Heat is a big enemy of retainers. Keep retainers out of hot cars, away from radiator grills and heaters in homes. Don't store them in direct sunlight either. Heat will cause the plastics to expand and contract and will eventually lead to breakage.
Retainers are the only thing that will keep your teeth straight after braces. You have to wear your retainers precisely as instructed by your doctor for as long as he/she tells you to. If you don't your teeth will slowly creep back into their old positions and all your hard work in braces and the expense incurred with your treatment will be a big waste! Properly cleaning and caring for your retainers is a critical component to making them last and ensuring you can follow through with the most important phase of treatment - Life Retained!
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Retainer wrapped in napkin ends up in trash - again!
Here is a letter from someone who has experienced the number one, undisputed champion of lost retainer stories - retainers accidentally thrown away in the trash! This happens so often that the Evertain team in customer service has stopped counting how many times they hear it.
The author of this story won free Evertain retainers for a year for taking the time, and unbelievable detail, to send us her story! Enjoy and think about how easily this could happen to you...
"Loosing your retainer by throwing it in the trash is the number 1 cause of lost retainers. Well, guess what? That's exactly what happened to me. Twice.
The first time it happened, I was at school in the cafeteria for lunch. I sat down, took out my retainer and put it in a napkin (very,very,very bad choice) since it was bugging a lot of my friends. Right after I finished my lunch, the principal decided to give us 10 seconds to get out of the cafeteria or we'd get lunch detention. Since he was counting down, I threw everything on the table into the garbage. Not even thinking about my sad, sad retainer and it's awaited fate in the cafeteria's garbage can. I went through all of my classes and it wasn't until I got home that I realized I didn't have my retainer anymore. I went crazy and became extremely stressed, but I figured I'd never be able to find it. So I eventually told my mom, and she did exactly what I thought she would do: yell at me and give me an hour long lecture about how irresponsible I was.
After I got my second retainer (also resulting in my orthodontist giving me a lecture too), I decided to only wear my retainer when I got home. This way, I wouldn't have to worry about loosing it at school. But considering how forgetful and careless I really am, that didn't work either. Just less than a week ago, I was at my friend's house for a sleep over. Within 20 minutes of getting there, she offered me a muffin. So I took out my retainer, placed it in a napkin (you'd think I would stop doing that by now) and dug into my muffin. After I was done, I completely forgot about my poor retainer and went to the mall. When I got back, I kept telling my self that I should go over to the table and put my retainer back in. But for some reason, I never did. My laziness costed me.
The next day after leaving my friend's house, I went back home and realized I forgot my retainer at her house. I called her and asked her to check if it was on the table where I had left it. Turns out, It wasn't. This time I freaked out so bad I almost cried. She told me her mom did some major cleaning after I left and figured she probably threw it out. I asked her if she could check the garbage, but lucky me, she had already taken it out! I guess my retainer is really attracted to garbage cans. So now, I will be up to retainer number 3... but I haven't gotten the nerve to tell my mom yet. I figure I probably should soon so my teeth don't shift too much. I'm starting to notice a tiny gap. Wish me luck, and next time I'm getting an evertain retainer."
CatherineSeattle, WA 13 yrs.
The author of this story won free Evertain retainers for a year for taking the time, and unbelievable detail, to send us her story! Enjoy and think about how easily this could happen to you...
"Loosing your retainer by throwing it in the trash is the number 1 cause of lost retainers. Well, guess what? That's exactly what happened to me. Twice.
The first time it happened, I was at school in the cafeteria for lunch. I sat down, took out my retainer and put it in a napkin (very,very,very bad choice) since it was bugging a lot of my friends. Right after I finished my lunch, the principal decided to give us 10 seconds to get out of the cafeteria or we'd get lunch detention. Since he was counting down, I threw everything on the table into the garbage. Not even thinking about my sad, sad retainer and it's awaited fate in the cafeteria's garbage can. I went through all of my classes and it wasn't until I got home that I realized I didn't have my retainer anymore. I went crazy and became extremely stressed, but I figured I'd never be able to find it. So I eventually told my mom, and she did exactly what I thought she would do: yell at me and give me an hour long lecture about how irresponsible I was.
After I got my second retainer (also resulting in my orthodontist giving me a lecture too), I decided to only wear my retainer when I got home. This way, I wouldn't have to worry about loosing it at school. But considering how forgetful and careless I really am, that didn't work either. Just less than a week ago, I was at my friend's house for a sleep over. Within 20 minutes of getting there, she offered me a muffin. So I took out my retainer, placed it in a napkin (you'd think I would stop doing that by now) and dug into my muffin. After I was done, I completely forgot about my poor retainer and went to the mall. When I got back, I kept telling my self that I should go over to the table and put my retainer back in. But for some reason, I never did. My laziness costed me.
The next day after leaving my friend's house, I went back home and realized I forgot my retainer at her house. I called her and asked her to check if it was on the table where I had left it. Turns out, It wasn't. This time I freaked out so bad I almost cried. She told me her mom did some major cleaning after I left and figured she probably threw it out. I asked her if she could check the garbage, but lucky me, she had already taken it out! I guess my retainer is really attracted to garbage cans. So now, I will be up to retainer number 3... but I haven't gotten the nerve to tell my mom yet. I figure I probably should soon so my teeth don't shift too much. I'm starting to notice a tiny gap. Wish me luck, and next time I'm getting an evertain retainer."
CatherineSeattle, WA 13 yrs.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Life Retained - Dedicated to living with orthdontic retainers
Since launcing the marketplace's first retainer protection program - Evertain - almost three years ago, I have come into contact with so many people and families who live life everyday with orthodontic retainers. I have met some of them when they joined Evertain. Some when they called me to discuss the Evertain program and some of them I found on Myspace, Facebook, and YouTube. All of them have one thing in common - retainers!
The irony, as I see it, with retainers is that they are the most important aspect of orthodontic treatment. These small, relatively simple, devices are the only thing that will keep your teeth straight after you have gone through the investment in and work of going through treatment. Yet rarely do retainers get the respect they deserve. Maybe becuase they are only introduced to the patient at the end of treatment. Then again maybe it is because patients feel, and deservedly I might add, that they have done all the hard work and are finally "done." Whatever the case, I have started Life Retained to bring the focus and respect that these amazing devices deserve.
I will be posting articles and linking to resources on the web that will help people living with retainers understand how important it is to wear their retainers as directed by their doctor. I will also be sharing the storied of those who have lost or broken their retainers. In addition, and with the disclosure that I am involved with Evertain, I will share the stories of our clients who have avoided the hassles and financial loss associated with lost, broken, stolen, etc. retainers.
You, the reader, are invited to contact me and share your stories or ask the questions you may have regarding your Life Retained.
The irony, as I see it, with retainers is that they are the most important aspect of orthodontic treatment. These small, relatively simple, devices are the only thing that will keep your teeth straight after you have gone through the investment in and work of going through treatment. Yet rarely do retainers get the respect they deserve. Maybe becuase they are only introduced to the patient at the end of treatment. Then again maybe it is because patients feel, and deservedly I might add, that they have done all the hard work and are finally "done." Whatever the case, I have started Life Retained to bring the focus and respect that these amazing devices deserve.
I will be posting articles and linking to resources on the web that will help people living with retainers understand how important it is to wear their retainers as directed by their doctor. I will also be sharing the storied of those who have lost or broken their retainers. In addition, and with the disclosure that I am involved with Evertain, I will share the stories of our clients who have avoided the hassles and financial loss associated with lost, broken, stolen, etc. retainers.
You, the reader, are invited to contact me and share your stories or ask the questions you may have regarding your Life Retained.
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