Dental Braces Care

More and more adults and children are using braces in order to straighten their teeth and improve their smiles. Dental braces care is an important aspect of taking care of your teeth and brightening your face.

One of the challenges that people with braces face is keeping their teeth cavity free.  Unfortunately, while braces are wonderful assets to straightening your teeth, they also hold bits of food and debris close to your teeth that encourages the growth of bacteria and plaque.  This increases your risk of developing cavities.

Dental braces care is basically the same from childhood through adulthood.  The thought of braces can conjure up images of metal smiles, but some braces are now clear.  Even though they are clear doesn’t mean that you’ll be able to see all bits of food that are beneath the braces.

You’ll learn that what you eat can also fuel dental problems.  Sugars and starches will feed the bacteria in your mouth and encourage it to grow rapidly and produce acid that dissolves your teeth and causes decay.  These acids can attack your teeth for 30 minutes or more each time you eat.

These characteristics of food, sugar and bacteria should be kept in mind while you eat.  For instance, it is important to brush your teeth within five minutes after eating to eliminate the sugar.  You should keep the amount of sticky foods to a minimum such as sweets and fizzy drinks.  Your teeth care more about how often you eat sugary foods instead of how much.  Eating sugary foods at night is harder on your teeth because it stays all night.

Care for your teeth with braces includes brushing and flossing your teeth.  Flossing can be more difficult and is just a pain in the neck to do.  You must use interdental brushes to get below the braces and floss between each of the teeth.  Although it does take time it is a necessary evil.

Brushing appropriately is also an appropriate part of care for both children and adults.  You can put together a travel dental pack to allow you to brush and care for your teeth when you are eating out.  That pack can be contained in a plastic cosmetic bag and include a small tube of toothpaste, travel brush, interdental brush, floss, dental pick and a small amount of mouthwash if you like using that product.

When you brush your teeth with braces there are a few tips and tricks.  Watch carefully to brush between the wires and gums to loosen any food particles.  Check with your dentist for special brushes (interproximal brushes) that make this possible.  Floss at least each evening and use an interdental Tepe brush during the day to remove the food particles.  And use the same brushing technique each day so that you don’t accidentally miss an area.

You may want to include an oral water device that helps to remove food particles from under the braces.  This is in addition to brushing and not a substitute for brushing and flossing.