Protecting Your Smile While Wearing Braces

Protecting Your Smile While Wearing Braces

When you get braces, caring for your teeth becomes very important, and more care will be needed than usual. Watching what you eat and how you care for you braces is vital to ensuring your braces bring you the results you desire. With proper care and routine cleaning, you can guarantee yourself a radiant smile when you are finished with your orthodontic treatment.

Flossing and Brushing Tips For Your Braces

While wearing braces, the risk of gum disease and tooth decay is much higher as food particles and bacteria are easily lodged in and around the wires. If not cared for properly, this build up can stain your teeth and lead to tooth decay.

Routine brushing and flossing are more important than ever and should be done correctly and regularly. If possible, brush your teeth with fluoride toothpaste after every meal. Follow by rinsing with a fluoride mouthwash to remove any remaining food that may be trapped in your wires. Flossing will be more challenging with braces, but is necessary for removing food from those hard to reach places. Feed the floss between the wires to reach the spaces between your teeth and use a gentle sawing motion to work the floss in and out of your teeth.

Ask your orthodontist about special cleaning aids such as a proxabrush, which is specially designed to clean between wires and appliances.

Braces- Friendly Diet

You will want to monitor your behavior and eating habits when wearing braces. Such habits can bend, break or loosen your braces and should be avoided.

Luckily, most foods can still be eaten if cut into small pieces or mashed so that they can be easily chewed. Enjoy an ear of corn by removing the corn from the cob, or cut your apple into small pieces rather than eating it as a whole. Refrain from chewing bubble gum, ice and other chewy foods like taffy or caramels. Hard foods like nuts, popcorn and hard pretzels can also damage your braces and should not be eaten until your braces are removed.

Try to avoid habits such as pencil chewing, nail biting and picking at your wires as this can also lead to broken braces. Keep in mind that broken braces will require extra appointments and time. Make an appointment immediately if yours are damaged so that your orthodontic treatment won't be delayed.

Protect your Mouth

If you participate in sports that require physical contact, you will want to be especially careful while wearing your braces. Any contact to the mouth could not only break or damage your braces, but it could seriously injure your teeth and gums. When playing sports where there is chance of getting struck in the mouth, wear a custom designed mouth guard. These durable mouth pieces fit over your braces and teeth and protect your mouth tissue from painful contact with your braces.

Caring for your braces will require a little more time and effort on your part, but is necessary to keep your teeth and gums healthy. Remember that caring for your braces is only temporary, but your new, beautiful smile will last a lifetime!

by: Gen Wright

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