BRACES INSTRUCTIONS
Thank you for reading this. It means that you really care about your teeth and you want to know more. After traditional or lingual braces have been placed, daily home care is more important than ever for keeping your teeth healthy and your braces functioning correctly during treatment. Here is a short instructional video to get you familiarized with home care for braces.
Watch this video to learn about how to take care of your teeth and braces during orthodontic treatment.
Cavities First
Before you start with your orthodontic treatment, all cavities should be fixed. You also might want to get a professional dental cleaning if you haven’t had one within the last 6 months.
Wisdom Teeth
Generally we try to avoid extraction. In some cases, wisdom teeth have to be removed prior orthodontic treatment. It can be because there is not enough room for the wisdom teeth to grow, and if your wisdom teeth erupt they will cause crowding and undo all the work we did with braces. Luckily, we perform atraumatic extractions (click) at Archer Dental.
Brush-brush-brush
For the next couple of years your best friends might get a little jealous since you will be getting a new one. Yes, you guessed it, it’s your toothbrush! And you take you toothbrush everywhere you go.
-“Restaurant?” - Yes!
-“School ?” - Yes!
- “Airplane?” - Of course!
You get the idea. We recommend to place a toothbrush in every bag, leave one at work or school locker, your car and so on.
Brushing 3 times a day is the least you can do to keep your teeth clean. If you have braces, you should brush your teeth after every meal. Rinsing is not enough.
Electric toothbrush is a great idea as well. Most of them come with the timer - 2 minutes per brushing is where you want to be. Flossing might take a little longer
Floss morning and night
Brushing is good for removing plaque from the top, front and back of the tooth. But what about in between? You guessed it! Floss. Floss is your second best friend! Normal floss works, but you will also want to use a floss threader. It will make it easier to get the floss under your wire and between your teeth.
Here is good news: if you don’t like to floss, there is Waterpick! Waterpick shoots water with pressure and therefore helps to clean your teeth in between. You can alternate and use Waterpick in the morning and regular floss at night.
Your Third Best Friend
Your third best friend is the dentist. Every 3-6 months you will need to get a professional cleaning. Our hygienist at Archer Dental will make sure to clean all the areas, including those that are hard to reach with the toothbrush and floss.
Diet
During your braces treatment do not eat hard foods, sticky chewy foods, crunchy foods. These foods can cause unnecessary breakage or become lodged between the wires. Also, extra bends in the wires can cause additional movement of the teeth.
Here is a tip! When eating fresh fruits and veggies always cut them into bit size pieces, instead of biting directly into them.
Chewy foods: chewing gum, chewy candies, bagels, caramels, toffees.
Hard food: granola bars, apples, carrots, ice, nuts.
Crunchy food: hard shell tacos, hard chips, popcorn.
Sugary food and drinks : candies, soda
“But I'll be careful when I eat popcorn.” or “ Can I eat granola bar with back teeth?” - Click here to read about braces emergencies.
Loosening Of The Teeth
As your teeth move under the pressure of braces, you teeth might feel a little loose. Do not worry! It is normal. Teeth must loosen first in order to be able to move. Once they are in their final position they will become fixed again.
Athletics
It is important that you consult Dr. Tony if you plan on playing any sports while having braces. A protective mouth guard is a good idea if you play contact sports.
