In truth, I don’t care a whole lot about keeping your braces clean – at the end of treatment, we throw them away! What I do care VERY MUCH about is keeping your TEETH clean because we want you to have those in their best shape for the rest of your life! Not cleaning your teeth properly can result in white marks/scars, cavities, swollen gums, bone loss – serious complications that can affect you the rest of your life! Please make sure you’re still scheduling regular check ups and cleanings with your general dentist while you’re in treatment. Even though we see you frequently, we don’t clean the teeth or specifically look for cavities.
The three main ways to clean your teeth and braces are brushing, flossing, and a Water Pik/water flosser.
Brushing
You can use any toothbrush (regular, electric, Sonicare, etc.) to clean your teeth. What is important is that you TURN TURN TURN your hand to get the bristles to clean around the braces and under the wires. You need to turn your hand/wrist more dramatically than you expect – so that the bristles of the toothbrush go straight down from the top and straight up from the bottom to get underneath the wire. We go over that technique when the braces are put on, but if you need a review, please ask us and we’re happy to show you again. Scrubbing the toothbrush back and forth over the braces splays out the bristles and cleans the braces – but not the teeth!
Brushing away the plaque on your teeth is the number one way to prevent the white marks/scars/cavities that can form around braces. Those scars and cavities are where the bacteria that lives in the plaque produced acid that dissolved away your tooth enamel. Those marks can’t be scraped or bleached away, so prevention is MOST important.
Flossing
Flossing with braces can be challenging at first. However, with a little practice, most people get comfortable with one of the two following options – and sometimes it’s easier to use one method in one part of your mouth and the other in the other.
There are two types of flossing tools to use with braces. First, you can use Platypus flossers. They are a special floss pick designed for braces; there is a flat side that slides under the wire and the floss goes in between the teeth. Regular floss picks are too thick to slide under the wire.
The other option is the plastic ‘needle’ threader that you can use with regular string floss. That can be a little awkward for people to use in certain areas of the mouth, but can be really helpful in the tighter areas like the lower front teeth. We recommend people try both options and see which works best for them.
As a reminder, when flossing, you don’t want to just ram the floss down onto the top of the gum tissue. That hurts and doesn’t clean anything! You want to slide the floss down the sides of both teeth. If you look at the gums, in between each tooth there is a little triangle of pink gum. Run the floss on both sides of the gum triangle before moving to the next teeth. Flossing keeps the gums & bone healthy, prevents the big puffy swollen gums, and prevents cavities between the teeth.
Water Flossers/Water Pik
There are several types of water flossers on the market – the one we’re most familiar with is the Water Pik. The idea is that the water spray can remove bits of food and plaque that collect around your braces that wasn’t removed by other means. If you have or prefer a different brand or style of water flosser (some attach to your showerhead for example), you should use what works best for you.
We give all of our full braces patients a Water Pik. It is a very useful tool, especially for the middle and back areas of your teeth that are harder to see and more likely to collect food. We recommend using the Water Pik each night after brushing. You’ll be amazed (& likely grossed out) at how much food and yuck is left behind that the Water Pik can shoot out!
It can be tricky to get used to using a Water Pik. We recommend you start on the lowest setting until you get used to the spray and the force of the water and increase from there. Have a towel ready for the first few times! Once you’re more comfortable, you can use the Water Pik with lips closed and it’s a lot less messy!
Even though we don’t give Water Pik’s to our early treatment (Phase I) or partial braces patients, I do think they’re a good idea and a good investment.
We’ve always got a station full of dental hygiene tools: toothbrushes (regular & travel sized), toothpaste, floss, flossers, etc. in clinic. Please help yourself to anything you need. And if at any point you need a reminder on how to use any of the tools properly or get to an area you’re missing, please let any of us know at your next appointment.
If you have any questions or would like to schedule an appointment, please give Laurent Orthodontics a call at (707) 938 – 5255 or fill out an appointment request form on our website.