Brushing With Braces

By the time the braces discussion comes along, you’re probably a well practiced brusher. You’ve dealt with baby teeth, missing teeth, and now adult teeth. You definitely know your way around your mouth with a brush and string of floss. So, what happens when braces are thrown into the mix? Do you continue to brush for 2 minutes? How does flossing work? Do you need new toothpaste? What about mouthwash? Don’t worry! Reed Orthodontics is here to walk you through the next few months of brushing to ensure your teeth come out perfectly and clean once your braces are removed.

Equipment Necessary

While your regular, soft bristle toothbrush is definitely adequate to get a good clean, you’re probably going to want to up the rest of your oral health game to ensure you get into all of the cracks and crevices that braces create. Investing in a floss threader is going to be key to optimal flossing and food removal. It’s also important to use wax floss instead of a non-wax floss. This is because non-wax floss can easily tear into shreds and get caught in the many metal trappings of your braces. If your oral hygiene is slacking, your dentist or orthodontist may prescribe fluoride toothpaste. This toothpaste is the ultimate defense against tooth decay. Finally, while we mentioned above that your regular toothbrush will suffice, you will likely want to replace it sooner than the recommended 3 months. Keep an eye on bristle wear and tear to make sure you aren’t brushing with dirty, bent, ineffective bristles.

Technique, Technique, Technique

While Dr. Reed will walk you through how to brush your teeth after getting braces, a quick step by step reminder is always helpful.

• Prepare your teeth by taking off any removable parts to your orthodontia. This includes removing rubber bands, and taking your Invisalign aligners out.
• Start with the braces then move to the teeth. Take your time concentrating on cleaning the braces in your mouth and then moving onto the teeth. Doing these one step at a time will ensure you spend enough time thoroughly removing an built up plaque or food debris in your mouth.
• ProTip: You’ll want to continue to brush your teeth for two minutes total. So add some additional time to that for braces only brushing. Also, you’ll want to try to brush after every single meal or snack. This will ensure you get any food debris out in a timely manner before it has time to wreck havoc in your mouth.
• Floss, floss, floss. While you don’t need to floss after every single meal, you’ll want to ensure you do a major flossing once a day. We recommend at night, right before bed.
• Brush once more. Give your teeth a quick once over to get all of the loose food particles out.
• Rinse it out. Swish some fresh, clean, water around your mouth to get everything out.
• Smile! Admire your shiny smile in the mirror!

If you’ve got any questions about how to effectively brush your teeth, or about anything braces and orthodontics related, feel free to contact Dr. Reed to set up an appointment!