Have you recently gotten braces in Lehigh County, PA? If you have, our team here at Lehigh Valley Orthodontics wants to make sure that you know how to effectively keep your braces clean and mouth healthy to ensure you have a quick healthy treatment. Now that you have braces, your teeth are going to experience some new problems. Not to worry, because we know what you can do to avoid those little dilemmas, avoiding any setbacks on the path to a straighter and healthier mouth. You’ll notice that with braces food will find more hiding spots than usual in your mouth. Be diligent on your teeth cleaning at home in order to avoid bad breath, swollen gums, discolored teeth and cavities.
Here at Lehigh Valley Orthodontics, we have the tools you need to achieve the correct dental care in order to help save your teeth in the future. In order to reach the perfect smile you’ve always hoped for, and to keep Dr. Bob Bryan happy during your next visit, read and follow along with these ten tips from Lehigh Valley Orthodontics!
One tooth at a time. While brushing your teeth, Dr. Bryan stresses that you take your time with each individual tooth. Focus on each one for at least 10 seconds, paying close attention to the spots where your teeth touch your braces. This way, you’re ensuring that every single tooth is being well taken care of.
It’s all about the angles. Our team at Lehigh Valley Orthodontics suggests that you brush your top teeth and braces with your brush angled downward, while you brush your bottom teeth and braces with your brush angled up. This is the best way to clean both your teeth and your braces fully and thoroughly.
The tooth, the whole tooth, and nothing but the tooth. While the front surface of your teeth may seem like the most important place to clean, Dr. Bryan wants you to know that it’s equally important to clean the inner and chewing surface of your teeth, your tongue, and along your gum line (a key spot for plaque buildup). These surfaces get plaque and tar tar built up just as much as the front of the teeth; although you may not visibly see it, leaving those spots unattended will cause damage to your oral health.
Brush after every meal. Food can easily get caught in your braces and in between your teeth, which can lead to tooth decay and other oral health problems. Also, the longer food stays in contact with your teeth, the greater the opportunity for plaque to form. If you can’t brush after every meal, it is best to thoroughly rinse your mouth with water.
Make a first aid teeth-cleaning kit. Get into the habit of taking a toothbrush, toothpaste and floss with you wherever you go. Design a special container just for your teeth-cleaning tools, keeping it in your bag at all times to keep your braces and smile happy and healthy.
Remove the moving parts. If you have elastic bands or headgear, remove these parts before you brush or floss. This helps to keep you from breaking your appliances, and will also allow for the best possible clean.
Fluoride is your friend. Fluoride helps to prevent cavities. Our team here at Lehigh Valley Orthodontics recommends that all of our patients with or without braces should brush their teeth with fluoride toothpaste and rinse with a fluoride mouthwash.
Interproximal brushes (Sometimes called proxa brushes or interdental brushes). These cone-shaped brushes are very important when it comes to your better oral care. They come in handy in order to reach those spots in and around your braces that standard brushes cannot reach. They help to push out the food stuck in between your braces while working its way to clean those tough spots in the back of your mouth. Invest in one of these to keep your teeth perfectly bright and clean throughout your orthodontic treatment at Lehigh Valley Orthodontics.
Find the floss for you. Regular floss works for some of Dr. Bryan’s patients, but others find it easier to work with a floss threader or Superfloss. A floss threader helps you get the floss into those tight places, and Superfloss is an all-in-one product which comes with a stiff end for easy threading, a spongy section for cleaning wide spaces, and regular floss for narrow spaces. Test out which one feels the best for you, and be sure to use it diligently!
Make an appointment with PLACE Orthodontics! Additionally, it’s important that Dr. Bob Bryan continue to check on the status of your treatment throughout the process, and ensure that your braces are functioning properly. Visit Dr. Bryan and his Ortho team at Lehigh Valley Orthodontics regularly during your braces treatment in order to get that deep, thorough cleaning only a professional can provide. If you have any questions or concerns about cleaning, would like to schedule an appointment, or anything else, make sure to call Lehigh Valley Orthodontics in Lehigh Valley, PA today at 610-435-2788!
