With the addition or braces, brushing and flossing can be a little more difficult than usual, but it is important to maintain a routine, and to give your teeth the attention they deserve.
Neglecting to properly clean your teeth can result in the need for professional cleaning, and may even effect your treatment.
A good time for children to brush their teeth is when they arrive home from school, as it is a quiet time in busy life.
Here are some tips:
We recommend using special inter spacing (or proxa) brushes for hard to reach areas. These look like small Christmas trees and are great for cleaning in between the braces.
Flossing is also crucial to keeping a healthy mouth. Floss between the braces, as well as around the gum area.
We have waxed floss available in our shop.
When you initially get your braces fitted, you will need to start with soft foods in the first week. That means no tough meats, hard breads, or raw vegetables.
Before long, you'll be able to bite properly again, but you'll need to protect your orthodontic appliances when you eat for as long as you're wearing braces. Chewing on hard things (for example, pens, pencils or fingernails) can damage the braces.
Damaged braces will cause treatment to take longer.The following foods should be avoided:
Now and again you may encounter problems with your braces. This can include bands breaking or wires misplacing. This is normal, and nothing to worry about.
Retainers are usually recommended after normal treatment with braces. Their purpose is to set the teeth in their new corrected position. There are a few rules to abide by when using a retainer.
As a general rule, we advise you to wear retainers full time for 72 hours when braces are first removed.
After that we advise you to wear the retainers only at night (but must be for every night) for 6 months, followed by every second night for 12 months, and then return for new retainers.
Retainers need to be replaced every 18 months and should be worn until 25 years of age.
Some patients may need to wear retainers on some sort of nightly schedule throughout their lives if they want to keep a perfect smile and prevent any shifting of the teeth, especially lower incisor teeth.