Caring for Your Teeth with Braces 101
Deciding on braces for you or your child is a big investment in creating a beautiful smile. We recommend braces for many of our patients to correct misaligned teeth or bite issues because they’re a safe and reliable way to make improvements to your smile. Often, we see patients who experience other dental issues while they are wearing braces, as a result of not caring for their teeth properly. Braces do change the way you need to care for your mouth. Here are some tips to help you care for your teeth and keep a beautiful smile while you have braces.
Brushing Your Teeth
Normally, as your regular dentist, we recommend that you brush your teeth twice a day. This is standard care for keeping your smile healthy and reducing the risk of decay or cavities from plaque build-up. We make a different suggestion for our patients wearing braces. Braces can trap food around your teeth, increasing the risk of dental decay. Our Warren dental patients with braces should brush every time they eat, to quickly remove food that may be stuck between or around your braces. It often helps to rinse with water before brushing to loosen up food and make brushing easier. You can continue to brush with your soft bristled brush and a good anti-cavity toothpaste.
Flossing Your Teeth and Other Cleaning Methods
Daily flossing becomes even more important when you have braces. We know that many of our patients skip flossing from time to time. While we encourage all of our patients to floss daily, those with braces need to be flossing daily without skipping, for the same reasons that they need to brush after every meal. Braces create new spaces for food to get stuck. Flossing daily keeps food from getting stuck under wires and between teeth. As your teeth move, you may find that you have large gaps that aren’t easy to floss, in these cases we recommend interdental brushes. These small brushes easily fit between teeth and work to keep plaque from building up in the spaces between moving teeth. Other tools to make flossing easier with braces include floss threaders and waxed floss. Floss threaders make it easier to get under wires and between teeth while wearing braces. Waxed floss moves easily between tight teeth and won’t stick or snag on brackets or wires as easily as non-waxed floss.
Watch What You Eat
We recommend to all of our dental patients with braces that they be mindful of the foods they eat. Avoiding sugary or starchy foods helps to reduce the amount of plaque that may build up on your teeth, around brackets, and under wires. We also recommend that our patients be extra careful when eating hard, sticky or crunchy foods (apples, chips, gum, caramel, corn on the cob, ice and popcorn). These foods can damage your braces and lead to costly repairs.
For More Information on Warren Dentist, Gregory Apsey, DDS
Braces are a great way to straighten up your smile or get your bite in line. If you follow our suggestions for caring for your braces, you’ll have a healthy and amazing smile when your braces are gone. Warren Dentist, Dr. Apsey and the team at Smile Brightly are here to help you achieve an amazing smile whether you need braces, cosmetic dentistry, or just a good cleaning. For more information on all of our dental services or to schedule an appointment at our Warren Dental Office, please call us today at (586) 573-7700.