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What should oral hygiene look like while wearing braces?

Today it is easier than ever to achieve the healthy and beautiful smile of your dreams. We have plenty of products at our disposal, with which we can brighten our teeth without leaving home, while possible malocclusions can be easily corrected with braces. These devices delight with the effects of treatment, but they also have their weak points: they have to be worn on teeth for quite a long time and they make daily oral hygiene difficult. Read on to find out how to take good care of your teeth and gums while wearing braces and which accessories are available on the market to help you.

Accessories you may need

Malocclusion can occur as a result of a variety of factors, including bad childhood habits (too much pacifier sucking, nail biting or crayon biting), systemic diseases (thyroid, pituitary disorders) or genetics. The most effective method to deal with them is to get braces. Such braces have to be worn on teeth for 2-2.5 years on average, but it is worth the effort as they regulate the bite alignment in a very effective way.

The period of wearing braces may be troublesome, mainly due to the fact how difficult it is to take care of proper oral hygiene during this period. Both the teeth to which the braces are attached and the “wires” themselves require special treatment. For example, during the entire period of braces wear you should not eat hard foods (as they could damage the structure of the braces) or sticky and sticky foods (their residues are difficult to remove). It is also necessary to clean hard-to-reach areas with special accessories. Particularly useful of these are:

  • toothbrush with soft bristles – when using braces, you should not brush your teeth with traditional toothbrushes, as they usually have hard bristles that can prove invasive to both you and the braces’ structure. In addition, the bristles of conventional toothbrushes are not able to reach all sensitive areas. A much better solution is to invest in a sonic toothbrush, which can reach interdental spaces much easier. Special attention should be paid to sonic toothbrushes manufactured by a British brand Smilesonic, which have a gentle mode adapted to the needs of braces users. We can also fit special tips to the devices, adapted to cleaning places difficult to reach;
  • dental irrigator – dental floss is difficult to maneuver between braces’ elements. An irrigator is a piece of equipment which will perfectly remove food debris from every crevice of the appliance;
  • orthodontic paste – it is not a necessary, but certainly useful product. Such pastes have a special consistency, which makes it easier to reach the hardest to reach areas. They also contain ingredients that soothe the pain caused by the use of braces and reduce tooth sensitivity.

 

How do I clean my mouth while wearing braces?

Oral care while wearing braces should look slightly different. However, the basic rules are the same: teeth should be brushed at least twice a day for two minutes, cleaning both the surface of the teeth and the interdental spaces (an irrigator may be used for this purpose). In addition, braces wearers may find mouthwash particularly helpful – not only does it freshen breath, but it can also remove debris from places that neither a toothbrush nor an irrigator could reach.

Here’s how to brush with braces every day in five steps.

  1. Position your toothbrush at a 45-degree angle to your teeth.
  2. Start cleaning from the brackets on the molars, and then slowly move the brush along the dental arch, towards the front teeth.
  3. During the cleaning we make sweeping movements in the up and down plane.
  4. Try to brush your teeth gently and subtly, do not press the bristle of the toothbrush against the braces.
  5. Tooth brushing should last about two minutes. When you finish, you should remove dirt from hard-to-reach places with an irrigator (or dental floss) and rinse your mouth with a special mouthwash.

Clean around orthodontic appliances with a Smilesonic sonic toothbrush

Sonic toothbrushes are the only devices available on the market that can remove up to 100% of plaque living on the surface of teeth. That is why braces wearers should pay special attention to them. These devices use sound waves for cleaning, which create cleaning bubbles during brushing, eliminating bacteria even from hard-to-reach areas.

As we mentioned earlier, sonic toothbrushes bearing the Smilesonic logo also offer a special mode of operation tailored to the needs of braces wearers. This is the Sensitive mode, where the bristles reach a speed of 62,000 strokes per minute. You’ll find it on Smilesonic GO, EX and UP sonic toothbrush models. You can also fit specially shaped OrthoClean orthodontic cleaning heads to all of these devices.

Grzegorz Kostka

Smilesonic technology specialist

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