Tips for Orthodontic Patients

Here are a number of tips that may prove useful throughout your orthodontic treatment, regarding your oral health and the proper care for your appliance. Good oral hygiene and proper care for your appliance is essential during treatment to ensure you get the best possible results and to avoid any unnecessary delays.

Oral Hygiene Tips for Orthodontic Patients

Brushing and flossing after every meal and snack is the only way to prevent plaque build up, tooth decay, and gum disease. Additionally, teeth with braces or other dental appliances need special care. Your goal is a beautiful smile with healthy, white, straight teeth, and in order to obtain it good tooth cleaning habits are imperative.

Braces, wires, bands and retainers all can trap food particles and make it difficult to brush or floss away plaque. Plaque is a sticky layer of harmful bacteria, food, saliva and debris which, if allowed to build up, can attack your teeth and gums, causing cavities and gum disease.

You should use the kind of toothbrush and toothpaste your orthodontist recommends and use them often. Brush after every meal, especially if you have eaten anything sticky or sweet. If you can not brush right away, at lease rinse well with water until you can brush.

Floss at least once a day, as flossing is the only effective way of protecting the gums and preventing gums disease.

When you floss, you should also brush your teeth and orthodontic appliance until they are spotless clean. This is a good time to use the special brushes, mouthwashes or fluoride mouth rinse recommended by your orthodontist.

After brushing, you should rinse thoroughly, and inspect your teeth and orthodontic appliance carefully to make sure they are spotless. You may have to repeat these steps two or three times to get your braces spotless.

Additional Oral Hygiene Tips for Patients with Braces

Brushing:

1. Brush the braces and teeth first. Start brushing the outside surfaces of the teeth with braces in a back and forth motion, try to brush each tooth 10 times. Continue around the outside, then do the inside and then do the tops of the teeth.

2. Repeat this sequence, this time concentrating your brushing along the gum line (where the tooth and gum meet.) Brush in a small gentle circular motion, about ten times per tooth. Brush lightly, and use a soft bristled toothbrush. Hard scrubbing can cause the gums to recede.

3. Don't forget to brush your tongue.

4. Rinse your mouth thoroughly.

Flossing:

Floss all your teeth at least once a day.

If you have trouble flossing with braces, try using a floss threader, as a needle and thread, and lace the floss under the wire between the teeth. Remove the floss threader, and holding the floss with the fingers of both hands, gently wipe up and down the surface of each tooth a minimum of five times. The tooth will feel "squeaky" when clean. Without removing the floss from between the teeth, move the floss to a clean section and repeat for the other surface of the adjacent tooth. Remove the floss, re-thread, and repeat for each tooth. After practice, you may be able to thread the floss without the help of the floss threader.

Foods to Avoid

There are certain foods that should be avoided as they can damage your braces or appliances, causing discomfort and delaying treatment.

Avoid hard or sticky food. Also avoid foods that can get stuck in your appliance, and excessive sweets. Examples of foods to avoid include:

Activities to Approach with Caution

There are certain activities that should be avoided or approached with caution as they can damage your braces or appliances, causing discomfort and delaying treatment.

• Be careful if you are playing a musical instrument that goes in your mouth not to damage your braces. If you have a removable appliance, you should take it out before playing the instrument.
• When playing sports, please take out any removable appliance. If you have braces, wear an orthodontic mouth guard. A broken appliance will slow down your treatment. It’s a good idea in general to wear a mouth guard when playing any contact sport.
• Try to avoid picking or pulling at your braces, even if it makes your teeth feel better.

Wearing a Removable Appliance

Wear your removable appliance as often as the orthodontist recommends. Failing to wear your appliance might extend the treatment time or lead to unsatisfactory results, such as the teeth shifting away from the optimal position.

If you are wearing headgear, make sure to always disconnect the strap before removing the metal facebow. Failure to disconnect the strap could injure you. If some headgear wear time is missed, you can make up for it by wearing for additional time the next day.

It might take time to get use to wearing your appliance. Some appliances, such as headgear, have adjustable tension, you can start with the loosest setting to get use to it and build up to wearing it on the recommended tension.

Caring for a Removable Appliance

Removable appliances are somewhat fragile. If treated properly they will last indefinitely, but it possible to break them. A broken appliance can be expensive and time consuming to replace, and the lack of the appliance might extend the time it takes to complete your treatment.

Keep your appliance clean and in its case when you are not wearing it – do not put it in your pocket or purse, since it is fragile and may break or bend. Do not wrap your appliance in a napkin, as it may get thrown out accidentally. This happens frequently, often at restaurants. 

Do not put your appliance in hot water or near high heat if it is made of plastic or acrylic – it can warp.

Place your name and telephone number on your carrying case in case you lose it.

If your appliance is damaged or lost, please notify us immediately so we can schedule a new appointment and make you another appliance, so that treatment is not delayed.

Cleaning:

You can wash your appliance in luke-warm (not hot) water, with toothpaste or gentle dish soap. Many patients find the best way to clean their appliance is by using a toothbrush.

Elastics

Elastics are an important part of orthodontic treatment. Since they move the teeth into the correct position for the rest of treatment, it is essential to follow the instructions you receive regarding their use. Not doing so may delay your treatment.

Please wear your elastics as instructed and remove them only when brushing your teeth.

It is a good idea to carry a few elastics with you, so if they break you can replace them immediately.

Elastics wear out and become ineffective, even when they don’t break. So, it is best to change them as directed and not to keep wearing the same ones.

If you run out of elastics please contact us and we will provide you with more.

If you forget to wear your elastics one day, don’t double up on the next day. Instead, wear your elastics as usual. Doubling up your elastics might damage the braces.

Elastics might hurt your teeth at first, as they are moving them, which is the goal of treatment. The tenderness or pain should go away in a few days. A few aspirin might help. Please contact us if the pain does not go away.

If you have any problems, such as a loose wire or band, a broken hook or your elastics breaking frequently, please call the office immediately.

Dealing with Discomfort & Tender Teeth

Throughout treatment, when you get a new appliance, or your appliance is adjusted, you may find your teeth become tender. This normally passes in a few days. In the meantime, You should usually be able to manage this discomfort with whatever pain medication you normally take for a headache.

With braces, your lips, cheeks and tongue might also become irritated for a week or two, but the discomfort is usually short-lived as the soft tissues will toughen and become accustomed to the braces. You can treat the points of irritation by putting wax on the appliance where it contacts with the soft tissue and causes irritation.

If your teeth are tender, try eating soft foods and avoiding food that is hard or require a lot of chewing.

Try:

Jaw Pain & Problems

Here are a number of tips to help with jaw pain, jaw joint pain and jaw problems: