No matter how old they are—teenagers or middle-aged
adults—orthodontic patients need to learn about cleaning braces, especially
given how serious of an investment orthodontics are in terms of money and time.
By learning how to properly care for braces at home, any patient can be fully
prepared for the responsibility and commitment required for maintaining his or
her oral health while partaking in orthodontic treatment and afterward.
What Can Get Caught in Braces
Every piece of a patient’s orthodontic hardware—bands,
wires, brackets, springs, screws, expanders, and elastics—has its own
challenges regarding cleaning. This hardware has many surfaces for food debris,
acids, and plaque biofilm to accumulate in the various areas of a person’s
mouth that are hard to clean.
Bacteria hide around the orthodontics and teeth, growing
into large quantities of plaque that feed on food debris remaining in the
mouth. The bacteria’s digestion process produces acids, which build around the bands
and brackets and create the chalky white orthodontic spots patients are often
shown before pursuing braces. Luckily, these white spots can be avoided if patients
learn how to properly clean their braces.
At-Home Cleaning
Removing food debris, acids, and plaque from around
orthodontic hardware can protect teeth and gums from oral health diseases and
decrease the risk of tooth decay. For this process, professionals often recommend
specialized equipment for cleaning teeth that have braces, including a first-rate
toothbrush, floss threaders, and a home oral irrigation system.
For tooth brushing, any soft-bristled toothbrush with a
compact head is best for teeth that have braces. Remember to remove the elastics
before you brush, so that the wires and hooks aren’t disturbed. Patients should
hold their toothbrush with a 45-degree angle from the gum line, brushing back
and forth and sweeping toward the teeth’s biting surface. Patients should also
brush the upper, lower, and front parts of their brackets and wires to remove food
debris and plaque. Patients could even try physically holding up their lip
while brushing the bracketed areas.
For flossing, there are various cleaning tools for removing
additional debris after brushing—proxybrushes, soft picks, superfloss, interdental
picks, and woven dental floss. While these cleaning tools are available, floss
and a threader should always be a patient’s first choice. With food getting
trapped under wires and between teeth, it's essential to thread floss beneath
the wires and remove any debris before it can damage the enamel. Patients can access
areas where other devices cannot reach via sliding the floss alongside the tooth’s
surface and lightly cleansing the area under the gum line.
As for a home oral irrigation system, it is specialized
dental tool that thrusts water in a narrow stream through a device for directly
flushing food, plaque, acids, and bacteria out of difficult spots around the orthodontic
hardware and teeth. These systems can make home care more effective, but they
shouldn’t ever replace brushing or flossing.
Fluoride Treatment
While patients should use fluoride regardless of if they
have braces, fluoride is even more essential during and after orthodontic
treatment. The chance of developing tooth decay grows with braces since they
make teeth harder to clean, and fluoride rinse can lower that chance.
As well, prescribed fluoride toothpaste can go far in
protecting teeth, strengthening areas where root surface is exposed, which
often occurs among patients with braces. Anti-bacterial toothpastes and
germ-killing rinses can also lower the number of bacteria within the mouth and
lessen plaque-related inflammation of the gums.
Are you avoiding trips to the dentist because of the high
cost of treatments? Did you know you can use a New Hampshire discount dental
plan
to save as much as 20 percent off your bills? For more information, please click here.
Photo via Shutterstock
