Keeping your teeth clean is more important than ever when you have braces. Food
bits have more spots than usual to hide in your mouth, so you must be diligent
in order to avoid bad breath, swollen gums, discolored teeth and cavities. If
you remove plaque regularly during treatment, you'll experience better results
and shorter treatment time. Keep plaque at bay with these top ten tips:
1. One tooth at a time.When you brush, take time with
each individual tooth – at least 10 seconds each – and pay careful attention to
the spots where your teeth touch your braces.
2. It’s all about the angles. Brush the tops of your
teeth and braces with your brush angled down toward where they meet. Brush the
bottoms of your teeth and braces with your brush angled up.
3. The tooth, the whole tooth, nothing but the tooth.While
the front surface of your teeth may seem like the most logical to clean, it’s
equally important to clean the inner surface of your teeth (tongue side) as
well as the chewing surface. And be sure to clean along your gum line – a key
spot for plaque buildup.
4. Step 1: eat, step 2: clean. While you’re in
treatment, it’s important to brush after every meal. Bits of food can easily
get caught between braces and teeth, and these food bits interact with bacteria
in your mouth to cause decay. The longer food is in contact with your teeth,
the greater opportunity for plaque to form. If you are eating somewhere that
you can’t brush, thoroughly rinse your mouth with water.
5. Like a Boy Scout, always be prepared. The easiest
way to be sure you can brush after every meal is to get in the habit of taking
a toothbrush, toothpaste and floss with you wherever you go. Designate a
special container just for your teeth-cleaning tools and keep it in your purse,
backpack, or laptop case.
6. Remove the moving parts. If you have elastic bands
or headgear, remove these parts before you brush or floss.
7. Fluoride is your friend. Fluoride helps prevent
cavities. Be sure to brush with fluoride toothpaste, and rinse with fluoride
mouthwash.
8. Pointy brushes reach tiny places. Interproximal
brushes (sometimes called proxa brushes or interdental brushes) are cone-shaped
and come in very handy for reaching spots around your braces that standard
brushes can’t.
9. Find the floss for you. Regular floss works for
some patients, but others find it easier to work with a floss threader, which
helps you get the floss into tight places. Other patients like an all-in-one
product called Superfloss, which comes with a stiff end for easy threading, a
spongy section for cleaning wide spaces, and regular floss for narrow spaces.
10. Make time for the pros. It’s your job to take care
of the everyday cleaning. But make sure to visit your dentist regularly while
in treatment, to get the deep, thorough cleaning that only a professional can
provide. If you need help finding the right Dentist for you, feel free to
contact our office - we’d love to help!
Hope this helps!
Absolutely not! Orthodontic treatment for adults is becoming more and more common. In fact, the number of adults getting braces has actually climbed 24 percent since 1996! More adults than ever are realizing that orthodontic treatment is not just for kids, and can help improve the aesthetics and health of a smile of any age! In a society where appearance matters and can help make the difference between getting a job or a promotion, adults are choosing wisely to invest in orthodontic treatment.
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