“How can I take care of my teeth with braces?”

Avoid foods and snacks with a lot of refined sugar. Refined sugar will feed the bad bacteria in your mouth and cause excess plaque and acids to destroy the enamel on your teeth. Brush your teeth and braces after all meals and floss your teeth at least once a day. Use the special brushes and oral hygiene products your orthodontist gave you (proxy brush, end tuft brush, Platypus flosser, etc), as part of your starter kit, and use them as directed and needed. Also, an electric toothbrush (Sonicare, Oral B, Rotadent, etc.) and/or water pik or other water flosser can aid tremendously in keeping your teeth and braces clean. Rinsing with an antiseptic mouth rinse like Listerine Total Care using a toothpaste like MI paste can help kill the bad bacteria in your mouth and help remineralize weakened/decalcified enamel. Continue to see your dentist every 6 months, or more often as recommended, for an exam and teeth cleaning. If you do all of these things, you will maintain your teeth and braces as clean as possible and get through orthodontic treatment without any damage to your teeth! 
Good luck and keep your teeth clean!

Daniel A. Flores, DDS, MS

Your Orthodontist should have given you detailed instructions and supplies to clean your teeth with braces. If they did not provide you with a hygiene tutorial and hygiene supplies, you should contact them immediately. Thanks!


Dr. Colin Gibson

1ST IMPRESSIONS Orthodontics
1333 W. 120th Ave. #303
Westminster, CO 80234
www.1stimpressionsortho.com
www.facebook.com/denverorthodontist
303-452-2277

It is clearly more difficult to take care of your teeth with braces. Brushing around all of the edges of all of your brackets is the first thing to concentrate on. Take extra time to do this. A waterpick is a very important aid to brushing to blast away extra food particles in hard to get crevices. Flossing is a must! This can be tedious, but is crucial. Superfloss is used to clean in between the teeth and braces. You can also add a fluoride mouth rinse once daily. The last issue thing is diet. Limit sticky sugary foods. You do not want to get white spots on your teeth around your brackets. These spots are called “decalcification”, which is a breakdown in the enamel, or a precavity. Your orthodontist should be checking your teeth at monthly adjustments to make sure you are practicing proper oral hygiene.

Don’t eat hard or sticky foods. Brush and floss after every meal. Put wax on braces that irritate your cheek or gums. Use Tylenol or ambesol as needed.

Thanks,

Dr. Price

Make sure you are seeing your general dentist every 6 months and sometimes more frequently. Brush 2-3 times a day and floss. This is harder with braces, so you need to spend time doing so and ask your orthodontist at your visit to advise you on areas needing improvement.
Best of luck.

Just do what you were doing before but do it longer and look in the mirror........brush above and below the braces to keep everything clean, especially after eating.....Use a fluoride containing mouth rinse also, water pick helps but isn't necessary if you are careful with regular brushing. DO NOT eat any sugary, gooey foods and take care not to bite into anything hard.