SportingSmiles Retainer Reviews: A Comprehensive Guide

Retainers are essential for maintaining dental alignment after orthodontic treatment, and SportingSmiles offers a variety of custom-fit options to meet diverse needs. This review explores the features, user experiences, and overall value of SportingSmiles retainers and the various options you can choose from.

What kind of retainer do you need?

• Essix Plus Clear Retainers
• Essix Clear Retainers
• Emergency Retainers
• Own Mold Retainers (You already have your dental impressions)

SportingSmiles company overview

SportingSmiles has become a major player in the online-order retainer game, known for providing high-quality, custom-fit dental retainers. Among their standout offerings is the Essix Plus Clear Teeth Retainers, a top choice for those seeking durable and effective solutions for maintaining dental alignment without frequent dentist visits.

Each retainer is made with 1mm thick Essix Plus or Essix material, known for its exceptional strength and clear appearance. The complete kit provided for home dental impressions adds to its appeal, offering both quality and convenience that users love

Types of retainers and cost

SportingSmiles prioritizes the use of safe and quality materials when manufacturing its retainers, ensuring durability, comfort, and effectiveness in maintaining dental alignment. The primary material used across their range of products is the Essix Plus material.

Essix Plus Clear Retainers

Essix Clear Teeth Retainer

Emergency Retainers

Own Mold Retainers

Quality and material

Crafted from 1mm thick Essix material, these retainers combine quality, strength, and comfort, making them the preferred choice of orthodontists. It's durable and crystal-clear, so virtual unnoticeable when worn. Let's take a closer look:

• Strength: Essix, especially Essix Plus, is designed to last through more wear and tear than standard materials, making it great for long-term use.
• Comfort: Not only are these retainers durable, they are also made to be exceptionally comfortable. Their sleek design fits snugly, minimizing irritation and making them easy to wear for extended periods.
• Health and safety standards: SportingSmiles puts your safety first. Their retainers are free from BPA, BPS, DEHP, and latex and meet rigorous health standards.
• Custom fit: The custom fit provided by the retainers not only enhances comfort but also maximizes the effectiveness in preventing teeth from shifting.
• Patented technology: SportingSmiles has patented their adjustable impression tray for perfect homemade impressions, allowing for greater accuracy in retainer fit – for more efficacy and comfort.

Customization process

SportingSmiles has developed a customization process that allows customers to create retainers that are both perfectly fitted and tailored to their specific dental needs. The company prides itself on offering a user-friendly and streamlined procedure, ensuring that acquiring a custom retainer is as hassle-free as possible. Let's take a closer look at just how this works!

Home impression kit

• Kit Contents: Each kit is packed with all the essentials: impression materials, adjustable trays, and a storage case. The instructions provided are clear and straightforward, guiding customers through the process of taking accurate dental impressions at home.
  Innovative Design: The adjustable trays, which are a patented feature exclusive to SportingSmiles, accommodate a wide range of mouth sizes and shapes. This design innovation enhances the accuracy of the impressions.
• Step-by-Step Guide: Customers are equipped with detailed instructions and links to online videos that demonstrate the impression-taking process, ensuring clarity and ease of use.
• Support Available: For those requiring additional assistance, SportingSmiles offers dedicated customer support to help guide customers through the impression-taking process, enhancing their confidence and experience.

Sending impressions for processing

• Prepaid Postage: After taking their impressions, customers can send them back to SportingSmiles using the included prepaid postage return label.
• Photo Verification: Customers are encouraged to take photos of their impressions and email them for preliminary approval. This step facilitates a quicker transition into the manufacturing phase.
• Lab Processing: Impressions are meticulously processed in SportingSmiles’ own dental lab, ensuring that each retainer is custom-made for a perfect fit.
• Quality Checks: During manufacturing, each retainer undergoes a series of quality checks to ensure it upholds the high standards SportingSmiles has set.

Delivery and Follow-Up

• Shipping: Once manufactured, the retainers are promptly shipped to the customer. The company’s fast shipping services ensure that customers receive their products without undue delay.
• Customer Satisfaction: Following delivery, SportingSmiles reaches out to customers for feedback to confirm satisfaction and to address any potential concerns regarding the fit or quality of the product. SportingSmiles has refined their customization process to maximize efficiency and user-friendliness, empowering customers to easily obtain high-quality, custom-fitted dental retainers from the comfort of their homes. This streamlined approach not only saves time and reduces costs associated with traditional dental visits but also guarantees customer satisfaction with the personalized dental care products.
• Impressions on record: SportingSmiles keeps your impressions in their records so that if you need retainer replacement in the future (either to order new ones due to regular wear and tear, or because you misplace yours) you don't have to take your impressions again, you can simply reorder with the click of a button!

Customer reviews

SportingSmiles has garnered numerous positive reviews on platforms like Trustpilot, highlighting the company's reputation for quality products and excellent customer service. Here is a summary of some recent feedback from users:

• Alan (Rated 5 out of 5 stars): Alan has been using SportingSmiles for over three years for his retainer needs. He praises the prompt service and competitive pricing, noting that the quality of the products is exceptional. Alan appreciates having his imprint on file, making reordering simple and efficient.
• Gail M (Rated 5 out of 5 stars): After her son's retainer was damaged, Gail turned to SportingSmiles for a more affordable solution. She was impressed with the responsive customer service and professional handling of her inquiries. Gail noted the informative communication throughout the process and recommended using additional putty for better impressions.
• Diana B. (Rated 5 out of 5 stars): Diana expresses her satisfaction with SportingSmiles, citing the ease of use and affordability of their products. She values the convenience of having her impressions saved in the company’s database, which simplifies reordering. Diana also buys extra retainers to keep at various locations, ensuring she always has one available.
• Anonymous Reviewer (Rated 4 out of 5 stars): This user appreciated the company's quick response times but mentioned initial anxiety about ordering retainers online. They reported that the first retainer fit more like a night guard and was too loose. However, after communicating this issue, SportingSmiles adjusted the order, and the user was satisfied with the prompt resolution.
• Abbie Sallie (Rated 4 out of 5 stars): Abbie has ordered from SportingSmiles twice and prefers the PLUS retainers for their durability. She sent in her own molds, which were processed without issue, although it took a few weeks. Her only critique was a preference for the retainers to be contoured more closely to her teeth, like Invisalign, though she acknowledged this did not affect functionality.

Conclusion

SportingSmiles has established itself as a reliable provider of high-quality, custom-fit dental retainers, offering a range of products tailored to meet various needs and emergencies. The company's commitment to using durable materials like Essix Plus, combined with a user-friendly customization process, ensures that customers receive products that are both effective and comfortable.

Feedback from users consistently highlights the excellent customer service and the convenience of the home impression kit, making SportingSmiles a favored choice for those seeking dental retainers. Whether for emergency replacements or routine care, SportingSmiles stands out for its quality, affordability, and customer-centric approach.

FAQs

Can Essix retainers be adjusted?

Essix retainers cannot be adjusted. If you wear yours as instructed (every night) then you likely won't need it to be adjusted, but if you go for a time without wearing it, you may find it doesn't fit. In this case, you will need to retake the impressions of your teeth for replacement retainers. Hawley retainers can be adjusted, but these retainers do require a physical visit at the orthodontist's office.

How long does SportingSmiles take?

You should receive your impression kit within 2-3 business days after placing your order. The lab will create your product within 10-15 business days and then ship it to you. If you choose the Emergency option, the lab processing time is reduced to 5-7 business days.

What are the disadvantages of Essix retainers?

Essix retainers, while clear and effective, can crack or break more easily than other types and require frequent replacements due to wear and tear. They also need careful cleaning to prevent plaque buildup and cannot be adjusted once made, which may necessitate new impressions if dental alignment changes.