Oral Hygiene

It's more important than ever to brush and floss regularly when you have braces, so the teeth and gums are healthy after orthodontic treatment. A nightly fluoride rinse is recommended to keep the teeth healthy and strong.

Eating with Braces

What can you eat? For the first day or so, stick to softer foods as you adjust to your new braces. You'll need to protect your braces by avoiding anything that’s too sticky, tough, chewy, crunchy, or hard. Don’t’ worry, you can still enjoy pizza and burgers.

Care of Appliances

To successfully complete the treatment plan, the patient must work together with the orthodontist. Special care is required to obtain a beautiful result. Repeated damaged appliances can lengthen the treatment time.

General Soreness

When you get your braces on, you may feel general soreness in your mouth and teeth may be tender to biting pressures for a week This can be relieved by rinsing your mouth with a warm salt water. Dissolve one teaspoonful of salt in 8 ounces of warm water, and rinse your mouth vigorously. If the tenderness is severe, take aspirin or whatever you normally take for headache or similar pain. The lips, cheeks and tongue may also become irritated for one to two weeks as they toughen and become accustomed to the surface of the braces. You can put wax on the braces to lessen this. We'll show you how!

Loosening of Teeth

This is to be expected throughout treatment. Don't worry! It's normal tooth moving process. Teeth must loosen first so they can be moved. The teeth will again become rigidly fixed in their new – corrected – positions.

Loose Wire or Band

Don't be alarmed if a wire or band comes loose. This happens occasionally. If wire protrudes and is irritating, use a blunt instrument (back of spoon or the eraser end of a pencil) and carefully, gently push the irritating wire out of the way. If irritation to the lips or mouth continues, place wax or wet cotton on the wire to reduce the annoyance. Call our office as soon as possible for an appointment to check and repair the appliances. If any piece comes off, save it and bring it with you to the office.