Getting braces is a worthwhile investment to fix your teeth and other oral issues, and to create your perfect smile. It’s highly important you know what to do when you get braces, including what to expect in the coming days and months, how to take care of them, and how to clean your teeth. Here’s what you need to know when you first get braces.
How to clean your teeth with braces
Your dental hygiene is supremely important, so learning how to keep teeth clean with braces is a necessity. Not only do your teeth collect food and plaque, but so do your brackets. Braces make brushing and flossing harder, but there are ways you can make it a little easier.
While you have your braces, you should still go for a typical dental scale and clean every 6 months.
How to brush your teeth with braces
Brushing with braces should still be at least twice a day, and after eating lunch or snacks where possible. To brush, begin by rinsing your mouth and then brush at a 45-degree angle along your gum line. Slowly move down and brush the tops of your brackets, before changing the angle slightly to brush under your brackets and the wire. Finally, brush the chewing and inner surfaces of your teeth.
How long you should brush your teeth for will vary based on how used to braces you are, but a minimum of two minutes is recommended as it is important to brush all the necessary surfaces. Daily brushing will help you prevent gingivitis and plaque build-up.
To make your life easier, you should create an on-the-go pack that you can take to school, work, or on any little trip. A travel pack can help you deal with any stuck food particles right after eating, helping to keep your teeth and braces in the best condition.
How to floss with braces
Flossing may seem impossible with braces, but there are many ways to make it easier. If you are having trouble, utilise a floss threader that can help weave the floss string underneath the archwire on your braces. We recommend interdental cleaning products like Piksters or Superfloss, which are available at most major pharmacists and supermarkets. You should endeavour to floss at least twice a day.
What can you eat
Your jaw will probably ache right at the start of treatment, making chewing a bit uncomfortable. We recommend consuming a diet of soft foods in the early days. The best soft foods to eat include soup, pasta, scrambled eggs or mashed potato.
Once you’ve learned how to chew with braces, more foods can return to your diet, but there are still a number of foods you should not eat. These include very chewy foods (roll-ups; licorice), sticky foods (caramel; gum), and crunchy foods (nuts; hard candy).
Try to avoid biting into hard foods — like corn on the cob, packet chips, meat or hard fruits. Instead, cut them into smaller pieces to eat. Hard foods can break off the brackets and wires in your braces. We recommend slicing or softening them to make them easier to chew.
How to take care of braces
The orthodontic cement we use to glue braces to your teeth is strong enough to withstand regular forces, but it is obviously not permanent — otherwise we wouldn’t be able to remove them! Accidents happen and your brackets may be damaged or removed from your teeth.
If you are an athlete or sports player, wearing a mouthguard will help keep your braces safe. Mouthguards should fit snugly over the teeth to prevent damage in the case of collisions in sport. Good orthodontic mouthguards are also relatively malleable, and able to be reshaped to fit your teeth as they move during your treatment.
To protect your braces, you may need to avoid some small behaviours like biting fingernails, chewing pen and pencil tips, and fiddling with your braces. If your braces do break in any way, don’t try to fix them yourself — contact us to book an appointment.
In some cases, brackets may detach from teeth or become loose. However, this is rarely an emergency and can normally be left until your next scheduled visit. If you experience significant discomfort, please call us to ask questions or schedule extra time to reattach it.
That’s all for now. Stay tuned for part two!
