Patients with braces must be careful to avoid hard and sticky foods. Damaged braces will almost always cause treatment to take longer and will require extra trips to the orthodontist, so it’s really important to follow the information from your Orthodontist about the care of braces.
Care Of Braces
Creating healthy smilesBraces need special care:
Handling Orthodontic Emergencies
Patients should avoid the following:
- Toffees, boiled sweets, chewing gum and chocolate bars
- Fizzy drinks, including diet drinks and excessive fruit juice
- Hard foods that may damage the teeth such as crunchy apples, carrots, French bread crust, corn on the cob and popcorn.
- Hard foods can be eaten with care if you cut them up small first.
- Chewing pens, pencils or fingernails
Extra care of the teeth is needed during orthodontic treatment because plaque gathers around the edges of orthodontic appliances. Plaque is a white sticky layer of bacteria which live on your teeth and gums. Sugar present in food and drinks reacts with plaque to produce acids which cause tooth decay and gum problems.
Therefore the following should be observed:
- Brush your teeth and brace thoroughly 4 times per day with a fluoride toothpaste.
- Pay particular attention where the gums meet the teeth
- Use inter-dental brushes to clean around your brackets.
- Use a daily fluoride mouthwash last thing at night after brushing
- Do not eat frequent snacks between meals
- Visit your dentist frequently for professional cleaning
Handling Orthodontic Emergencies