Advice for your treatment
Teeth brushing, which should always be taken seriously, requires a lot of time when teeth have braces on them.
Dental plaque must be removed by brushing. If not it will accumulate around the brackets and cause problems :
Inflammation of the gums, gingivitis
This is when gums swell around the tooth. As braces cover much of the tooth suface, they make cleaning the teeth more challenging. Bleeding is a sign of inflammation and is a sign that you should brush more.
Demineralization
The accumulation of dental plaque may create acids that attack the enamel (start of decay). This results in a white spot near to the orthodontic brackets. Nothing happens under the brackets as the glue ensures a perfect seal, but the area between the bracket and the gum is particularly exposed to this risk.
Brushing
You should brush your teeth after every meal: morning, lunchtime and evening. If for some reason you don’t brush your teeth at lunchtime, you should make up for this later. You should brush around all the parts of your teeth: fronts, sides, backs and chewing surfaces. Make sure you feel the toothbrush on your gums.
Toothbrushing techniques
Maintaining good oral hygiene is critical when you wear braces.
- brushing should last 3 minutes
- a soft toothbrush should be used
- the 3 sides of each tooth should be brushed
- the gums should be brushed
- interdental cleaners will enable you to clean around braces
- when gums bleed, do not stop brushing !!
- a water jet is just a supplement to an oral hygiene routine
- some moutwashes containing chlorhexidine (Eludril) can colour your teeth
- BRUSH YOUR TEETH, YOUR BRACES AND YOUR GUMS !!
- you should change your toothbrush as soon as the bristles become frayed with use...
- if you don’t have time to brush your teeth before an appointment, there is a room available for you to do this at the practice and we provide disposable toothbrushes.
In case of breakage
Brackets can become unstuck from a tooth either due to technical problems (rare) : quality of the enamel, saliva on the tooth when brackets were stuck, or, most often, due to not respecting the instructions given when the braces were fitted :
- do not bite into hard food but cut it before chewing
- do not eat sweets and other sticky items, but chewing-gum is allowed
- do not bite nails or chew pencils
- do not « play » with the arch
If a bracket becomes unstuck, this is not an emergency unless it hurts the patient. It will be stuck again during the next appointment.
In case of injury, contact us in order to come and see us right away.
Orthodontic elastics
This is a very important stage.
During treatment we may add elastics to the braces so that the teeth will move in a certain direction. As with brushing, results depend entirely on the cooperation of the patient.
Please note that a day without wearing elastics corresponds to about an extra week of treatment.
