Dental Tips: How can I keep my teeth clean when wearing braces?

Once you get braces, it becomes more essential to keep up a regular oral hygiene regimen.

During your treatment, your oral hygiene regimen needs to be even more thorough than it was before

Braces are constructed from bands, wires, brackets, and retainers, all of which can make it much harder to floss or brush away food particles, bacteria, and plaque.

Cleaning braces through meticulous brushing and flossing, preferably after each snack and meal, is the only way to halt plaque buildup, gum disease and tooth decay.

At Warner Lakes Dental, we offer you the following advice on keeping your teeth clean, your smile bright, and your oral health at tip-top condition while your braces are straightening your teeth!

Brushing and flossing is key!

Here are 10 tips to help you ensure that your braces don’t make your oral hygiene process inefficient.

1. One tooth at a time. When you brush, try to spend at least 10 seconds on each tooth, particularly working on the areas where the braces come into contact with your teeth.
2. Work the angles. Braces can change how a toothbrush can reach your teeth, so adjust your brushing angle accordingly. Brush your tooth-tops and braces with your brush held angled downwards toward where they meet. For your bottom teeth reverse the angle, working the bottoms of teeth and braces with the brush at an upward angle.
3. It’s the whole tooth you’re after! Although the front surfaces of teeth often seem like the best to clean – after all, they are easiest to clean, and they form your smile – it’s just as important to clean the back of your teeth (where the tongue touches) as well as the chewing surface. It’s equally important to pay attention to the area where the gums meet the teeth since this is where gum disease is going to occur if you aren’t careful.
4. Clean after each time you eat. While you are wearing braces, you must brush after every meal and even a snack. Braces make it much easier for bits of food to get caught in your mouth, in the spaces between braces and teeth. These bits of food are used by bacteria at the beginning of the process that leads to tooth decay and gum disease. The longer the food is in contact with your teeth, the longer the chance for plaque to form. If you can’t brush, at least rinse your mouth with water.
5. Carry your dental cleaning tools, no matter where you go. Have your toothbrush, toothpaste and floss with you, in a convenient carrying pack, no matter where you go. Stash the pack in your purse, laptop, or car, and you’re ready to keep your teeth clean as they straighten!
6. Remove the removables. If you braces include headgear or elastic bands, remove them before you brush or floss.
7. Fluoride is your friend. Fluoride helps prevent cavities by strengthening your enamel.
8. Weird, pointy brushes may be your friends. Interproximal brushes (also known as interdental or proxa brushes) are cone-shaped, a shape that is quite good at getting to spots that standard toothbrushes can’t.
9. Find the proper floss. Some patients find regular floss just fine for cleaning teeth with braces, but others find it far easier to floss with a floss threader, which can help get tooth floss into tight spaces and between teeth and braces.
10. Make time for your friends at Warner Lakes Dental. It’s your job to take care of everyday cleaning. But make sure to visit Warner Lakes Dental, to get the deep, thorough cleaning that only a trained dentist can give you.

Check your smile whenever you can!

Use your mirror to sneak a peek behind your teeth and in the back of your mouth to make sure you’ve done an excellent job.

This can also help you stay free of social disaster – you don’t want to be walking around with food gunk apparent on your teeth or braces.

With a bit of extra effort and the proper equipment, you can be certain your teeth are clean and looking their best while you’re wearing your braces.

Even better, take care of your teeth while you are wearing braces and they’ll be gorgeous when it’s time to take them off.

The Warner Lakes Dental Care Experience

Warner Lakes Dental works hard to make your visit the most convenient, painless, and quickest dental experience available. We offer services to patients of all ages and conditions.

From parking to treatment and billing, we make the entire process as painless, streamlined, and straightforward as possible.

From routine check-ups and cleans to root canals, extractions, and cosmetic procedures; Warner Lakes Dental is your partner in dental health.

We want you and your family to enjoy life with a stunning smile and a healthy mouth, teeth, and gums!

Warner dentist also serves the local communities in Whiteside, Cashmere, Bray Park, Albany Creek, Brendale, Strathpine, Joyner, Griffin, Lawnton, and Petrie.

For more information call us on (07) 3448 0162 or request your appointment here.

We are located at Warner Lakes Medical Precinct, 1185B Old North Road in Warner.