Honest Review of Zima Ultrasonic Dental Pod Cleaner

This honest review of the Zima Dental Pod contains affiliate links.

Aligners: the least attractive thing about orthodontics.

For anyone who wears aligners – whether that’s a mouthguard at night, or Invisalign during the day – you’ll understand the untold battle we face.

A perpetual struggle to keep those mouth trays clean.

Even the most hygienic amongst us must acknowledge, however hard it is, that our aligners are far from sparkling. They’re disgusting, in fact. However much we brush and soak, bleach and air, somehow those little appliances of ours end up as a living petrie dish.

My own retainers have become my dirty (quite literally) little secret. I keep them hidden in a box, stashed away in my bathroom.

However, while scrolling Tiktok one day, I came across an advert for the Zima Dental Pod. It showed a filthy aligner being lowered into a powder pink bath. Minutes later, they were removed – dazzling, sparkling and apparently brand new.

Immediately, I needed one.

Although wincing at the £79.99 price tag, I decided it was probably worth it. It was better than dying of listeria.

Ordering a packet of their Ultrasonic Boosting Tablets to use alongside the pod (another £8.09 for one box), I waited impatiently for them to arrive.

Some six weeks later, below is my honest review of the Zima Dental Pod.

My Honest Review of Zima Dental Pod: FAQs

How Does the Zima Dental Pod Work?

So, how does the Zima Ultrasonic Dental Pod work?

In short, it all comes down to bubbles – and lots of them.

After contracting strep throat from his own retainer, the founder of Zima Dental Pod decided to set to work with a team of engineers, creating a device that would banish bacteria from aligners.

The result was the Zima Dental Pod. Using high frequency ultrasonic waves to vibrate the solution inside the pod (aka the water and sterilisation tablet), the pod creates ‘millions of nano-scale bubbles’. Each bubble forms and collapses around your aligner, creating energy that thoroughly cleans them and dislodges any nasties (a scientific process known as ‘cavitation’).

The result? Brilliantly clean retainers.

How is Does Zima Dental Pod Different or Better than Other Ultrasonic Cleaners?

Although claiming to be the original ultrasonic oral appliance cleaner, there are plenty of other ultrasonic aligner cleaners on the market.

So how does Zima Dental Pod differ? And why is it so expensive?

Having looked through the research (you owe me, reader), the differentiation largely comes down to design, portability and a few other nuanced features.

Firstly, Zima justify their price point by pointing out that not all ultrasonic cleaners are designed for oral appliances. Instead, they are best for items such as jewellery. However, and although this is true, there are still other ultrasonic cleaners for aligners out there – including The Sonic Spa Pro and the Invisalign Ultrasonic Cleaning Station.

Likewise, there are plenty of cheaper options on the market, including plenty on Amazon.

The Zima Dental Pod therefore certainly doesn’t have a monopoly over this technology, so this justification is a little flawed.

Secondly, a lot of Zima’s focus is on the aesthetically pleasing aspect of their design and its portability.  On this, they are perhaps right. Some of the other cleaners are a little bigger and more clunky, whereas the Zima Dental Pod is light, small and easily fits in a suitcase.

It also comes in pretty colours – which Tiktok seems to like.

Thirdly, and something to mention in this honest review of the Zima Dental Pod, is that it does have some more subtle features that other, cheaper, ultrasonic retainer cleaners don’t have.

Firstly, the pod is heat regulated, meaning it never lets the water get above 37 degrees, which could warp and damage your retainers. Some of the alternative models don’t have this feature so the water may, theoretically, overheat and cause damage.

The Zima Dental Pod also uses something they call ‘dynamic feedback’, which bases the efficacy of the clean on the amount of water in the pod and the size of the retainer. In turn, this should result in a better, more personalised clean.

Zima Dental Pod has also been subject to some studies, whereas other brands have not. These studies seem to back up much of Zima’s clams, however – they don’t actually relate to the look of the aligners after they’ve been cleaned, e.g. how sparkling or clear they are.

Instead, its focus is its ability to reduce bacteria, compared with manual brushing.

I think this is an important caveat to note that I’ll come back to in this honest review of the Zima Dental Pod.

Can’t You Just Brush Aligners with a Toothbrush and Toothpaste?

I wanted to include this question, as to be honest – I brushed my aligners with toothpaste and a brush for years and thought it was more than enough.

Turns out, I was very wrong.

Vigorous brushing can damage aligners and toothpaste can also corrode them. I also didn’t realise that brushing with toothpaste can actually give your aligners that cloudy, opaque look – which I (ironically) spent night after night trying to brush away.

Furthermore, as brushes are quite big and our aligners are filled with little nooks and crannies, you’re very unlikely to get rid of all bacteria and gunk with just a brush.

This is why something like an ultrasonic aligner cleaning pod is so important.

Does the Zima Dental Pod Come with Any Cleaning Solution, or Do you nNeed to Purchase that Separately?

The Zima Dental Pod does not come with any cleaning solution or tablets, so you’ll need to purchase these separately.

Annoyingly, Zima state that you can only use their ultrasonic tablets with their device, as other tablets may cause damage to the pod. This is based on the fact that some tablets contain corrosive ingredients, that may harm it.

Now, I’m not sure how true this is and have seen plenty of Reddit reviews with people who have successfully used cheaper, supermarket options with their Zima Dental Pod – like Retainer Brite or Streradent.  However, for now at least, I am using the £8 tablets I bought, but may change these up later as they’re pretty expensive.

There is a subscribe and save feature, which will save you 10% and you can buy in bulk (three, or six boxes), which are again cheaper than just purchasing one box outside of a subscription.

What Can Zima Dental Pod Clean? Aligners, Retainers, Mouthguard or Dentures.

At night, I wear an orthodic medley of a retainer (to keep my teeth straight) and a bite guard, to stop me clenching.

I therefore needed a device that would clean both of these, despite each being made from different materials.

Thankfully, Zima Dental Pod claim that it can effectively clean most types of oral appliances, including dentures, bite guards, retainers, sleep apnea devices, aligners and toothbrush heads.

How Long Does a Cleaning Cycle take with the Zima Dental Pod, and How Often Should it be Used?

The Zima Dental Pod is a super speedy device and will have your retainers cleaned within five minutes. It’s an extremely quiet little gadget and you’ll barely notice it running.

The clever folk at Zima claim it should be used daily to ensure your retainers remain clean, bacteria free and less likely to stain.

My Honest Review of Zima Dental Pod

Now, onto the main course: my honest review of the Zima Ultrasonic Dental Cleaning Pod.

Below is my experience of the pod, having used it for around six weeks. Of course, the internet is filled with rave reviews of this product and some people have found it transformative in terms of the state of their aligners. However, I’ve also seen a fair few reviewers who found this product pretty disappointing.

So, what is my verdict?

What I Liked About the Zima Dental Pod

1. Definitely Gets Rid of Bacteria and Fungus

Given the research behind the Zima Dental Pod, I do believe that this ultrasonic cleaner removes all nasties from your aligners or retainers. They have the studies to back this up and I noticed that some of the more questionable patches on my retainer have disappeared.

Keeping your retainers clean is (worryingly) important. Until I began this review, I had no idea just how many issues dirty retainers can cause. From strep throat to meningitis, bad breath to gingivitis, bacteria riddled retainers are not just a little gross, they are dangerous.

I’m very satisfied that the Zima Dental Pod cleans my retainers very effectively and removes this risk. It’s certainly more hygienic and effective than brushing them with a toothbrush, which had been my main method before.

As one study cited: ‘of the nine cleaning strategies examined, only that involving 5 minutes of ultrasonication at 42 k Hz combined with a 0.3% germicidal cationic detergent was observed to be statistically effective at removing the bacterial biofilm from the surface of F22 aligners’.

For this reason, and if you’re interested in using the Zima Dental Pod purely to ensure clean and safe retainers, then I’d definitely recommend this device.

2. Cute Design

A little shallow, but nonetheless true – the Zima Dental Pod is a good-looking device (or as good looking as an ultrasonic oral appliance cleaning pod can be).

If you’re researching the best ultrasonic cleaning devices for your aligners, you’ll see that most are large white boxes – clunky, box shaped and far from pretty.

This is where perhaps Zima takes the lion’s share of the market. They’ve designed a genuinely lovely and streamlined product, that makes retainer cleaning less, well, unappealing.

I wonder if this is, in part, what you’re paying for – the ‘glowing up’ of a retainer cleaning device. However, and even if this is the case, I still genuinely love the look and feel of my Zima Dental Pod and think it looks far better than its peers.

3. Portable and Travel Friendly

Another point to include in this honest review of the Zima Dental Pod is just how light, small and portable it is – making it perfect for travel.

Although my days of travel have slowed somewhat, I still frequently go away – shoving my retainer in its damp little box and hoping for the best. Sometimes, dependent on where I am, I get nervous about washing it under tap water (and I’m not wasting bottle water on it), and I’m therefore not sure how to clean it.

As a result, when I travel my retainer is (even more) gross. I’ve even started leaving it behind sometimes, I dread using it that much.

However, the Zima Dental Pod is perfect for travel. I recently took it to both Lanzarote and Norfolk, and it fitted into my case easily – snuggled amongst some socks. It barely took up any room and was so light it didn’t add to the case’s overall weight.

The only thing you need to be sure of is checking voltages wherever you’re going, to ensure it’ll still work.

What I Didn’t Like About the Zima Dental Pod

1. Didn’t Clean My Retainer As Advertised

This is the part of this honest review of the Zima Dental Pod that I’ve been desperate to get to – the big reveal, that mic drop moment.

Although I’m certain the pod has definitely rid my mangey retainer of bacteria, it hasn’t – as of yet – provided the sparkling results I was expecting.

The first time I used it, I was practically hyperventilating with anticipation as the pod did its thing. I pictured removing it to discover a gleaming new aligner and bite guard, dazzling like a finely cut diamond.

However, the result was very anti-climatic.

My bottom retainer (a Vivera) definitely looked much cleaner, but still had stains and questionable patches. Even worse, the bite guard looked like it hadn’t been cleaned at all and was somehow even more opaque.

I was baffled, frustrated – distraught, even.

Where were the like-new retainers I’d been expecting?

Now, the bite guard I can maybe let slide. Zima do list on their website brands of retainers or aligners that will work with the pod. Notably, my bite guard wasn’t listed there. It is quite a thick product and a bit more ‘spongey’ than the plastic Vivera retainer.

However, it’s still a bog standard guard and so I’d hoped it would at least clean a couple of stains off – or at least make it look marginally fresher.

The retainer – one Zima claim works with their pod – I am more disappointed by.  It did look a little better, I would say 50% better, but it still had all the signs of neglect. Of course, it probably was inherently cleaner under a microscopic, but it didn’t look cleaner – and that’s what I wanted.

In the end, I figured out that I actually had to run the Zima Dental Pod a number of times to get the results I want. Each time, I flip or change the position of the aligners, and run the pod again.

In total, this is normally around 3 different runs – so 15 minutes. That’s far from the quick 5 minute job that Zima claim.

Controversially, in the end, my dentist also suggested putting a drop of bleach in with my retainers when cleaning them (without the tablet, to an avoid a possible chemical storm).

This has, by far, worked the best so far in terms of removing stains and discolouration – and has really cleaned them up.

2. Overpriced

There are a fair few ultrasonic oral cleaning appliances on the market – and the vast majority are around half the price of the Zima Dental Pod.

A quick browse of Reddit revealed a lot of people are having success with much cheaper versions bought on Amazon, including this Hangsun Ultrasonic Cleaner and this cleaner from Exluvon, which are around £33 – £35 (dependent on Amazon’s Prime Deals).

So, why is the Zima Dental Pod double the price?

Fundamentally, I think its cost largely comes down to its design, shape and colour. It’s simply more aesthetically pleasing – more marketable.

Of course, this is nothing to sniff at. Having something that cleans your retainers and looks nice (and that you can travel with), is a great bonus. However, does it warrant an additional £40 or so pounds?

Honestly, I’m not sure.

3. Small (Can’t Fit Much In)

While it’s handy that the Zima Dental Pod is so portable, this means you’ll only fit two retainers in at a time. Of course, this isn’t necessarily an issue, but if you’re undergoing Invisalign, or want to clean multiple aligners at once, you’ll need to clean them in pairs.

As my bite guard is genuinely huge – and has a strange outward facing nub to stop me clenching – it fits into the pod a little awkwardly. A larger cleaning device would be a tad more easier, I’m sure.

4. Questionable 30 Day Money Back Guarantee

One thing I did want to touch upon in this honest review of the Zima Dental Pod is its 30 day money back ‘guarantee.’

While I haven’t returned mine, I did see a fair few complaints that the returns process is lengthy and complicated. Certainly not hassle free, as Zima suggest.

Firstly, if you’re in the US, you’ll need to pay to post the item back to the UK, which certainly isn’t cheap. I also saw others were offered a 50% refund instead, while some simply didn’t hear back from customer services (until they’d jumped through many hoops).

Although it sounds like an easy and reliable returns process, I think the reality is that it’s far from seamless.

Honest Review of Zima Dental Pod: Is It Worth It?

So, if I had my time again, would I repurchase the Zima Dental Pod?

In all honesty, I think I probably would – although I do think that this product is far from perfect.

While I would say I didn’t get the sparking results promised, with a little negotiation – and running a few cycles back to back – my retainers are noticeably cleaner. My Vivera in particular looks considerably cleaner.

Which is saying something.

Secondly, I know they are biologically clean – as in, free of any life-threatening bacteria or fungi. Aesthetics aside, this is probably the most important reason to use a device like the Zima Dental Pod, as brushing alone is insufficient.

Now I have my pod, I understand the importance of keeping my retainers clean and it’s therefore very easy just to pop them into the Zima Dental Pod and know they’re sound. I also appreciate the portability of the product as it makes travelling with retainers so much easier.

Yes, the product is probably overpriced and I’d venture that some of their advertising is misleading.

However, overall it provides cleaner, safe and germ-free aligners, all without frying them or causing some sort of small electrical fire. That it looks pretty cute on my dresser also helps.

For these reasons, and although the Zima Dental Pod has its flaws, I’m overall happy with my little pink pod.