Braces are a big deal and an exciting change for your child. Orthodontic treatment is capable of correcting a wide range of malocclusions (misalignments of the teeth and/or jaws) and preventing more severe dental problems in the future. Braces can help your child chew more easily, speak more clearly, and give them a smile they’ll be happy to show off.
Braces make brushing and flossing easier in the long term by straightening the teeth and closing spaces between teeth, but they can be inconvenient during treatment. Conventional braces start with a bracket attached to the front surface of each tooth. The orthodontist will place a wire between those brackets and hold everything together with elastics. Together, these components exert gentle pressure on the teeth and jaw, causing them to shift into a new configuration.
With all that hardware in the way, brushing and flossing can be difficult. Your child will be at higher risk of decreasing calcium concentration in the teeth leading to permanent white scars. In severe cases, patients can develop cavities or gum disease and may need to discontinue treatment. It’s more important than ever that your child maintains good dental hygiene.
Brushing Your Teeth with Braces
Effective brushing is more important than ever during orthodontic treatment. Brush in a circular motion using a soft-bristled toothbrush and a small amount of fluoride toothpaste. An electric toothbrush may increase brushing efficiency by more easily removing plaque and food debris from teeth and brackets.
- Take out elastics or any other removable appliances, if applicable.
- Spend a minimum of 2 minutes brushing, or 30 seconds around each of the mouth’s four quadrants. Brush every surface of the teeth: front, back, and chewing surfaces.
- Brush around wires, brackets, and along the gum line. Angle the toothbrush at a 45-degree angle above and then below the brackets to remove plaque and debris from around the braces.
- Spit, but don’t rinse. Allow the fluoride in the toothpaste to remain in the mouth to protect the teeth in the long term.
- Inspect your work. You can use a plaque disclosing tablet, which highlights areas that need extra attention. These can be used temporarily until you figure out the right cleaning routine for your braces.
Flossing Your Teeth with Braces
Flossing is one of the most important and underappreciated parts of dental hygiene. While many people don’t like to floss at the best of times, putting wires across your teeth doesn’t make it any easier. Fortunately, numerous tools are available to help make flossing with braces easier.
Make sure to floss at least once a day to remove any plaque that brushing may have missed and to clean between your teeth where brushing can’t reach.
- Floss Threader: The most challenging part of flossing with braces is threading the floss behind the wire and into the interdental spaces. A floss threader works the same way as a needle threader, helping you get the floss into hard-to-reach places. Thread the floss between the teeth and move it up and down the sides of the teeth, then pull it out and move on.
- Braces Flossers: Handheld flossers pair a piece of u-shaped plastic with a small piece of floss, but they’re usually a little too bulky to fit behind the support wire of your child’s braces. Specialized orthodontic flossers made for braces reduce the profile, allowing them to slide neatly behind the wire. With these, flossing can be as easy with braces as without.
- Proxy Brushes: Also known as interdental brushes or go-betweens, proxy brushes are made of a narrow post with flexible bristles designed to fit between the teeth and clean away plaque in the same way a toothbrush would. Their design allows them to get between teeth more easily than conventional floss. They can also be used to clean under the wire and on the sides of the brackets when an ordinary toothbrush isn’t doing the job.
- Water Flosser: A water flosser, otherwise known as an oral irrigator, aims a stream of lightly pressurized water at the teeth. Pressurized water gets between teeth and clears away plaque and food debris. Water flossers can be helpful when wearing braces, but they may not entirely replace conventional flossing.
