Download Braces 101 - Lake Chaparral Dental Care

Lake Chaparral Dental Care: Braces 101
Brushing
Brushing your teeth and appliances is an important start to ensuring a healthy smile. Your brushing routine
should take several minutes, as all surfaces of your teeth need to be cleaned.
Follow these helpful tips and steps for brushing your teeth with braces:
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Step 1: Using a soft bristled brush, begin brushing the outsides of your teeth at a straight angle in
circular motions.
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Step 2: Clean the area between the gums and braces by angling the brush downward. Continue to brush
in small circular motions.
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Step 3: Angle the brush upward to clean the rest of the outside of the teeth. (Point down for the
lower teeth).
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Step 4: Carefully brush the chewing surface of the upper and lower teeth.
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Step 5: Finish by brushing the inside of the teeth.
It is especially important, during orthodontic treatment, to brush your teeth at least twice daily to avoid
accumulation of food particles. We suggest:
After Breakfast
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After lunch or right after school
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After Dinner
Before bed
You will need to replace your toothbrush more often because of your appliances. When the bristles start to
wear down or fray, replace your toothbrush with a new soft bristled brush.
The important thing to remember is that if plaque is left to collect around the braces for long periods of time,
the gums can become red and puffy. Eventually, decalcification will occur, which creates white marks to form
on your teeth around the braces. These marks are permanent and won’t go away even after the braces are
removed.
Regular flossing and rinsing with an antiseptic mouthwash are also an important part of your oral hygiene
routine.
Flossing
It is important to get the areas between the teeth where your toothbrush can’t reach. By using dental floss
with special orthodontic dental floss threaders, you will be able to remove any lodged food particles that can
cause plaque buildup and tooth decay. We suggest that you floss at least once a day, please follow the steps
below to learn how to floss with braces:
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Step 1: Start by threading your dental floss threader.
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Step 2: Push the end of the floss threader under the arch wire and pull the floss through.
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Step 3: Pull floss up between the teeth and gently move it up and down the side of both teeth.
Remember to move it all the way up under the gums.
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Step 4: Pull the floss out and use a clean section for the next tooth.
If you are flossing without a threader, pull a small length of floss from the dispenser and wrap the ends
tightly around your middle fingers. Then, guide the floss between all teeth and the gum line to pull out food
particles or plaque. Unwrap clean floss from your fingers as your go. Make sure to floss behind all of your
teeth as well.
Be sure to floss at night to make sure your teeth are clean before bed. When you first begin flossing around
your braces, you gums may bleed a little.
Rinsing
After brushing and flossing, rinse your mouth thoroughly with water or an antiseptic dental rinse. An
antiseptic dental rinse can help minor gum inflammations and irritations from orthodontic appliances. It is also
beneficial in cleansing canker sores, minor wounds, other mouth and gum irritations, as well as wash away
debris.
Interdental Device
An interdental toothbrush (proxybrush) is another instrument to help you keep your teeth, braces, and gums
clean and healthy. It can be used to clean under orthodontic wires and around braces. Use this device
carefully, so you do not damage your braces.
Foods to Avoid
Your teeth may be sore for the first week in braces, so we recommend sticking with soft foods until the
discomfort subsides. While you are in braces, you can eat just about anything; however there are a few
exceptions.
Foods that are hard (pizza crusts and ice) or sticky (licorice and caramels) can damage your wires and
brackets. It is also important to limit your intake of sugary foods like ice cream, cookies, and sugary drinks to
once a day.
Common Problems
“Sore Teeth”
Everyone is different, but generally, it is expected that the teeth will be sore for the first few days. There
are now new pressures and forces being applied to the teeth that they have never felt before. If the teeth
are sore initially, it is important to remember that it will not last. Things will settle down within a few days.
Eating or drinking cool foods or liquids will help relieve some of the pressure from the wire. Chewing gum
(sugar free of course!) also provides excellent relief by massaging the tooth sockets and promoting blood flow,
thereby helping the teeth to move. If need be, a pain reliever may also be taken.
“Irritations”
Now that the braces are on, it will take your mouth, lips and cheeks a few days to get used to them. The
smooth surface of the teeth has been replaced by the braces, so it is not uncommon for a “sore spot” to
develop. If you notice that the braces feel particularly scratchy in one area or another, simply use the wax
provided to help smooth out the rough spot until the cheeks and lips toughen up. Be sure to hold your lip or
cheek away and dry off the area as much as possible. The wax will not stick as well if the surface is too wet.
If your wire is causing irritation try moving the wire away from the irritated area with the eraser end of a
pencil. If the wire will not move, try covering the end of it with a small amount of wax. If the wire is poking
your lips or cheek, most wires can be cut with a clean pair of nail clippers or scissors.
“Loose Bracket”
If the main wire or a bracket comes loose, a general rule is if it is not bothering you or causing you any
discomfort, and your appointment is coming up (within three weeks or so), it is not a problem to wait for your
next appointment to have a repair done (still call us to inform us that something needs fixing). However, if
something breaks and you are in a situation where you must cut the wire or slide a bracket off the wire, you
may use clean fingernail clippers. Please give us a call and we will schedule a repair appointment.
Dr. Tartals “NO-NO” Food List
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The crust of pizza.
(It’s the best part but the place where bent wires start!)
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Hard rolls & pretzels & bagels & bones
(knock braces off so leave them alone!)
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Nuts
(are always very good too, but we have to say, “no nuts for you!”)
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Beef Jerky & Slim Jims
(are fun to eat, but for wrecking your braces they’re hard to beat!)
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Suckers
(are always a sweet delight but will damage your braces if ever you bite!)
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Caramel candy, jube-jubes, and chewy sweets
(are a gooey mess & fun to eat, but they pull off the brackets and feed the bacteria,
so my good friend, don’t let it go near ya)
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Pens & Pencils
(are food for thought but we all know the havoc they’ve wrought!)
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Ice
(is nice in the heat we all know, but they destroy your braces. A thousand times...NO!!)
Be careful of:
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Ribs and chicken wings
(still on the bone. Cut the meat away & leave the bone alone!)
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Fruits and raw veggies
(are really good too! Cut small, bite-sized pieces to avoid a re-glue!)
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Chips
(in small mouthfuls & in moderation will prevent a bracket operation!)
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Doritos & Tacos
(and all the rest, will form a hard ball making your braces a mess!)
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Popcorn
(& movies are fun for all, but the pain that it causes is not fun at all!)
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Gum
(if it’s not sugarless, can cause a real mess!)