Brush Those Braces!

If you or your child has braces, it is essential that you understand how important brushing your teeth is. While cleaning the teeth is necessary throughout life, it is even more critical to your teeth while you are undergoing orthodontic treatment. Brushing well is more challenging to do well with braces because brackets and wires are all over your mouth. But, with food particles and sugars being trapped inside the mouth, how well your brush will make a huge difference once your braces are removed.

Here are some tips to make sure you are cleaning your teeth as well as possible while wearing braces:

• Use the right toothbrush. Use a toothbrush with soft bristles. A soft-bristled toothbrush will easily mold around your brackets to clear away food debris and bacteria. This type of toothbrush also prevents bending your wires out of place.
• Use only water at first. Take 30 seconds to brush your teeth without toothpaste. Using only water, it is easier to see the gunk trapped around your brackets. Rinse your mouth to spit out any particles that have become loosened, and then go back over your teeth using toothpaste.
• Floss your teeth. Flossing is extremely important, yet it is more difficult to do while wearing braces. Do not merely rely on your toothbrush to remove plaque from your teeth and brackets. It is crucial to use flossing tools explicitly made for braces to remove the gunk that builds up around your brackets each day.
• Don’t rush. We get it – you have more enjoyable things to do than brush your teeth. However, if you are not brushing (and flossing!) well, you are really just wasting your time. Set a timer for two minutes, and dedicate your time to properly brushing your teeth. There are 1,440 minutes in every day. Dedicating two minutes, twice a day, is not going to interrupt your busy schedule.

At Broad Street Braces, we are here to help you achieve a beautiful, straight smile. Yet, we want to ensure that your smile is also healthy once your braces are removed. We encourage you to take the time to brush your teeth well.