Keep Your Mouth Extra Clean When Wearing Braces

Keep Your Mouth Extra Clean When Wearing Braces

Avoid dental problems when wearing ‘wire and bracket’ style braces.

Dental braces, or orthodontics, can be used to correct the alignment of your teeth, giving you a better bite, or simply to improve the appearance of your smile. Whatever the reason, many orthodontics, even modern ones, still use a series of wires and brackets to straighten your teeth.

Whilst patients of the Cygnet Dental Practice are able to take advantage of a range of discrete orthodontics that use finer, tooth-coloured materials; even these more user-friendly versions can still create a few problems for those who wear them.

Stay clean

Modern orthodontics may be more discrete and comfortable to wear than older versions, but the wiring used still means that it is easy for food to become trapped in them. Certain foods, spinach being a classic example, may be very visible when this happens, but even those that aren’t, can cause significant harm to your teeth and gums.

Everyone should pay attention to cleaning their teeth each and every day, but our Wickford orthodontic wearers should take special care to keep their teeth and gums clean. If you don’t, trapped food may well lead to decay and gum disease becoming a problem.

Cleaning your teeth

The basics of good cleaning apply to orthodontic wearers as they do to the rest of us. Good brushing and flossing at least twice a day is essential. Because of the additional risks of trapped food when wearing braces though, brushing after each meal is advisable. This should be done gently and making sure that you angle your toothbrush so that it gets beneath the wiring and around the brackets where the food can become trapped. We also suggest that you swill water around your mouth before brushing to remove or loosen some of the food particles. The use of a good quality mouthwash will also help to minimise any potential harm caused by excessive, unhealthy bacteria in the mouth. If you are unsure which mouthwash to use, we are happy to offer advice.

In addition to your home cleaning regimen, we also strongly recommend that you see our hygienist to help you maintain a healthy mouth whilst wearing braces.

Invisalign

We have discussed this orthodontic in more detail before, and it may not be the most appropriate orthodontic for your own circumstances. If it is suitable for you though, this method will not only straighten your teeth, but is removable and makes keeping your teeth and gums clean and healthy much easier than with traditional, wired braces.

Straighter teeth not only look nicer, but once straightened are easier to keep clean too. If you would like to find out more about the orthodontics available at the Cygnet Dental Practice, please call our Wickford clinic on 01268 733078.