If you or a loved one just got braces, you may be wondering what changes have to be made to your oral hygiene habits to keep braces clean. Whether you have braces, clear braces, or invisalign, it is important that you take proper care of your teeth to avoid problems and unnecessary trips to the orthodontist. Here at Utah Orthodontic Care, our highly trained staff offers adult treatment, teen treatment, and early treatment to patients in hopes to bring brighter smiles to the people of Salt Lake City. We have assembled a list of tips to keep your braces clean and your teeth healthy, so that when your braces come off you can have that smile you have always dreamed of.
How To Take Care Of Your Braces
While your braces are working to straighten out your smile, it’s important that they stay free of food and debris. Taking care of your teeth with Invisalign is more straightforward, but if you have braces there are some essential tricks to learn to keep your braces clean and working.
Prepare To Brush:
Braces often use rubber bands in order to keep applying pressure to out-of-line teeth, and it is often much easier to brush without these rubber bands. Brushing may loosen rubber bands or cause them to fall off, making them much easier to lose.
Don’t Just Brush Your Teeth:
You also need to brush your braces! By holding the toothbrush at a 45 degree angle, you can get those bristles under the pins and wires of your braces, removing any food or plaque that might be growing there. Try using an interdental brush, which has bristles in a pointed cone shape, to get tough spots in between the wires and your teeth.
Know What To Eat:
While there are plenty of delicious foods that do not pose any danger to braces, there are some notorious food items to avoid. Stay away from crunchy, hard, sticky, and gummy foods like caramel, popcorn, pretzels, hard candy, chewing gum, and hard bread or cookies. Anything soft, cooked, or in liquid form is ideal for braces and can be eaten to your heart’s content.
Check Your Teeth:
It can help to use a mirror after brushing to see if there is any residual food stuck in your braces. Try just looking at your teeth while you floss and you may notice some spots to clean up!
Visit The Orthodontist Regularly:
Braces are strong enough to set your teeth straight, but they can still be damaged by hard foods, impacts, and broken wires. Make sure to keep your braces check ups regular so that your orthodontist can see if anything has gone amiss with your braces.
Most of all, brush for two minutes twice a day, so that your teeth can be bright and clean when those braces do come off. Contact us at Utah Orthodontic Care to find out more or schedule an appointment.
