Brushing your teeth is always an important task. It starts when you’re a toothless infant using your mom’s finger. But after you have braces installed, it becomes even more critical and challenging! Twice a day, or more, you’re not only brushing your teeth, but you have dental appliances now that need cleaning too.

Do you know what happens if you miss some food lodged behind a wire? It begins to go wrong, starts to rot, and you know what rotting food does – it smells! So, no matter how well you think you’ve brushed or how much mouthwash you use, you’re still going to have bad breath.

With the extra crevices for food hide and bacteria and plaque to build up, now is not the time to slack off with your oral hygiene. Not to mention the stains left behind when your braces come off. Is there a secret to brushing with braces?

Six Tips for Cleaning Your Teeth with Braces

You’ll experience pain with your braces at first and again with each visit after the orthodontist adjusts your bands. That isn’t an excuse to skip your oral hygiene routine.

Here are some helpful and essential tips to make your oral hygiene practice the most effective you can while wearing orthodontic appliances:

Brushing: After every meal, every snack. Food can get stuck between the brackets and under the wires. When left there, you’ll have more than just some leftovers. You’ll have a breeding ground for oral bacteria to take hold and spread.

Use an interdental brush if you can’t do a thorough job in those tiny tight spots. Ask your orthodontist for a recommendation if you’re unsure what to buy. Consider an upgrade to an electric toothbrush.

An electric toothbrush can do an effective and thorough cleaning, getting those angles that regular toothbrushes can’t, eliminating that fuzzy mouth feeling. Most electric toothbrushes come with a timer, a plus for anyone wearing braces.

Cleaning Around Braces

Flossing: Every day, you need to floss after every brushing. Yes, braces are more challenging, but it doesn’t have to be painful. Flossing with braces does not have to be a painful and mind-numbing act. Floss threaders can make getting in between your teeth and the brackets easier. Getting in between your teeth gets to food particles and plaque buildup, keeping your teeth healthy.

Gum Pick: for a person with teeth sensitivity, a gum pick is soft and designed to reach the crevices and corners surrounding your braces, effectively cleaning the food and plaque buildup. When used with flossing, gum picks will help get the hard-to-reach food and plaque.

Mouthwash: Rinsing with regular water rinse isn’t enough when you have braces. Choose a fluoride mouthwash, asking your orthodontist for recommendations. Mouthwash protects your teeth from cavities and tooth decay while strengthening the enamel on your teeth and protecting them from acid damage.

Dental Wax: One of the challenges that many experiences when wearing braces is gum and side of mouth irritations. Ask your orthodontists to recommend an orthodontic wax to give you some relief. It isn’t visible and will blend in with your braces. It will wear off over time, and you can replace it when needed.

Spares: Yes, you should always keep a spare toothbrush and interdental picks with you. Brushing your teeth isn’t always at home, so by having an extra, you can keep your oral hygiene routine in place. There are interdental brushes with caps just for traveling purposes.

You Don’t Have To Do This Alone!

If your pain is unbearable, take an over-the-counter pain reliever like Acetaminophen, Aspirin, Ibuprofen, or Naproxen. If these aren’t helping, ask your orthodontist for a recommendation at your next appointment. If you have found brushing and flossing are both too painful or difficult, ask your orthodontist about professional teeth cleaning.

If you have any questions about how to keep your braces clean, ask your orthodontist the next time you come in! They want to make sure you have the smile of your dreams when your braces are gone, and good oral hygiene is just as important as getting those teeth aligned. And when you get your braces off, if you keep up your good brushing and flossing habits, you’ll be able to enjoy that healthy, straight smile for life!

CLEANING OUR TEETH IS a critical task that we should all be doing at least twice a day. For people with braces, good oral hygiene is even more important, but it can also be more complicated because of all those extra crevices and places where food particles, bacteria, and plaque can hide. Slacking off on brushing and flossing can result in tooth decay and unsightly stains when the braces come off. But don’t fret, because we’re here to give you some tips on keeping your teeth clean while those braces are on!
3 Teeth Cleaning Tips

Here are three important things to remember for your oral hygiene routine while your braces are on:

  • Brush after every meal. Food gets stuck between brackets very easily, and it’s important to clean it out so that oral bacteria don’t have a chance to enjoy your leftovers. If a normal toothbrush doesn’t do the job, you can use interdental brushes to reach those tight spots.
  • Floss daily. Flossing is definitely more complicated when you have braces, but don’t let that stop you! You can make the process easier with floss threaders, or you could even use a water flosser. These are more expensive than floss, but they are much easier to use, even for people without braces! The research is showing that water flossers are more effective in removing plaque than string floss.
  • Using interdental picks and brushes: Sometimes, a place to brush your teeth is not always immediately available. Carry an interdental brush with you to clean around your appliances when you are unable to brush. These interdental brushes often have caps that allow you to wash and reuse them on the run.

Check out this video to see how a pro orthodontic patient does it!

You Don’t Have To Do This Alone

If you have any questions about how to keep your braces clean, just ask us the next time you come in! We want to make sure you have the smile of your dreams when your braces are removed, and good oral hygiene is just as important as getting those teeth properly aligned. And when you get your braces off, if you keep up your good brushing and flossing habits, you’ll be able to enjoy that healthy, straight smile for life!

Keep sharing that smile with everyone around you!