Orthodontic Health Hints: How to Care for Your Teeth Cleaning With Braces

Braces do an excellent job in giving you great looking teeth and a healthy smile but you

do sometimes have to work a bit harder at your oral hygiene to look after your teeth

while you are in the middle of treatment and using a brace.

Many different languages are catered to when it comes to orthodontics including

, but the message remains the same however it is spoken,

which is that care needs to be taken to keep your teeth in great shape during and

beyond your dental work.

Introducing Braces to Your Mouth

 

Orthodontic Health Hints: How to Care for Your Teeth Cleaning With Braces

The use of braces such as Invisalign treatments are very effective in repositioning

your teeth and improving your look and oral hygiene, but the treatment of misaligned

teeth is not something that only takes a few weeks to resolve.

Orthodontic treatments can often last for a year or more before the end result is achieved

and when you introduce braces into your mouth it means that you are creating an opportunity

for food to find a place to lodge and increase the odds of plaque forming.

It is important to understand that you will need to be extra vigilant with your brushing, flossing

and use of mouthwashes, so you reduce the prospect of food accumulation.

Practice Makes Perfect

Orthodontic Health Hints: How to Care for Your Teeth Cleaning With Braces

Brushing and with braces is not particularly easy when you first try it, but just like

many things, you will soon learn to master the art and be able to keep your teeth clean.

The main thing to say is that you should not be discouraged by any initial difficulties as it is

important to maintain a flossing ritual while you are wearing braces.

The Art of Flossing

Orthodontic Health Hints: How to Care for Your Teeth Cleaning With Braces

The general suggestion would be to use a waxed floss in preference to an unwaxed version and

this is because this type of tooth floss is less prone to flaring, leaving you with frayed floss stuck

in the arch wire.

Start by wrapping about 18 inches of dental floss around your middle fingers so that you have

a line of floss running between your two hands.

Then start threading the other side of the floss between the gaps in your teeth and beneath the

arch wire.

Using a gentle movement, work the floss up and down the space in between each tooth, dislodging

food particles with your movement as you go along.

Afterwards, floss the region above the arch wire, which should offer as much resistance as the area

under the wire.

You will soon become adept at this procedure with a bit of practice and when you floss regularly

like this you will be removing food particles which may have got stuck and minimizing the prospect

of any buildup of .

You could also try using a floss threader to make the task of flossing your teeth that bit easier.

Orthodontic Health Hints: How to Care for Your Teeth Cleaning With Braces

The main thing to keep in your mind is that you are investing in your teeth by having braces fitted,

so make the most of the opportunity to have a healthy smile at the end and for years to come,

by flossing and brushing regularly throughout your treatment period.

 

About the Author
Louie Sanders has worked as an Ortho Dental Assistant for the past 4 years. He enjoys writing in his spare time and has combined these 2 areas of interest by writing about orthodontics for a range of health blogs.

 

Have you worn braces?

How did you keep your teeth clean and healthy while wearing them?

Share your thoughts and comments with us.