When you start your orthodontic treatment, you know you’re on your way to getting that perfect smile. But with the power of orthodontic treatment, comes great responsibility. Your orthodontist must have repeatedly emphasized the importance of maintaining good oral hygiene with braces.
If you don’t maintain good oral hygiene, it might derail the course of your orthodontic treatment. This can happen since it’s easier for food to get stuck in your metal wires and cause cavities or plaque. But this oral hygiene guide will help you get through the treatment gloriously.
How to Maintain a Good Oral Hygiene Routine with Braces
When you have braces, you will have to brush your teeth after every meal and floss at least once a day. Here are some helpful tips:
- Brush your teeth using a soft bristle brush. Tilting the brush at a 45° angle helps you get around the pins or wires of your braces.
- Use an interdental/interproximal brush to clean between your brackets and wash away any debris that could be hard for your regular toothbrush to clean.
Now comes the critical part of your oral hygiene routine — dental floss.
Why Dental Floss is Essential for Patients with Braces
- When you have crowded teeth, plaque and food particles tend to get stuck along the sides of your teeth, in places where your toothbrush can’t reach. Especially when you are wearing braces, there are some places where food particles get stuck, and the toothbrush bristles can’t reach that place.
- That’s where dental floss comes in. You need to make sure you are flossing teeth in the right way when you have braces.
Here’s a quick tutorial on how to floss with braces:
- Take a long piece of floss that can sneak in between your teeth. Make sure you can hold it between your fingers.
- Now make a loop using the floss around your tooth so that the floss can access any food particles stuck in the base of each surface.
- Move the floss up and down slowly and make sure you get between the gum tissue.
- After you’re done with one side of the tooth, repeat the same procedure with the adjacent tooth, and repeat this up-and-down and side by side motion.
- When you are done, slide the floss out from between your teeth.
Maximize Your Flossing Routine
Flossing with braces can be tricky, and that’s why you should use these aids:
- Dental Floss Threader – Use a dental floss threader, which will help you floss between your braces. Dental floss threader is a flexible plastic tool that resembles a plastic needle. It is very useful in getting between crowded teeth and getting rid of build-up plaque or food particles that are stuck. Removal of food particles and plaque in these areas prevents cavities, tooth decay, and problems like gingivitis.
- Dental Floss With Rigid Sections – Another type of floss that is helpful for patients with braces is floss that has a rigid section intermittently. When you cut the floss off at the rigid section, it can be used to buff the surface of your teeth between the brackets free of plaque.
You’re going to have the picture-perfect smile after your orthodontic treatment is over, but you need to take care of your oral health during your treatment since it’s easier to get dental problems when you have braces. These problems lengthen the time of your braces treatment unnecessarily. Hence, you must remember to maintain a strict oral hygiene routine while undergoing orthodontic treatment.