Braces will give you a stunning smile, but maintaining that smile’s health is just as crucial. Proper tooth care is an essential aspect of orthodontic treatment. Braces can increase the risk of plaque buildup since the brackets and wires tend to trap food debris and create areas around the teeth that are more difficult to clean. This plaque can lead to tooth staining and enamel erosion.
Properly cleaning your braces helps prevent unsightly white spots around the brackets and reduces the risk of cavities or gum irritation, which could potentially delay your treatment progress.
Knowing how to clean teeth with braces and understanding why it is essential can be the deciding factor between the success and failure of your treatment.
Why Knowing How Do You Clean Teeth with Braces is Important
- Prevent Plaque Buildup: Proper cleaning helps prevent plaque accumulation around brackets and wires, reducing the risk of cavities and gum disease.
- Avoid White Spots: Effective oral hygiene prevents the formation of unsightly white spots on teeth, which can result from plaque buildup and demineralization.
- Reduce Gum Irritation: Proper cleaning helps minimize gum inflammation and irritation.
- Ensure Effective Treatment: Keeping your braces and teeth clean contributes to the overall effectiveness of your orthodontic treatment by ensuring that your teeth move as planned.
- Maintain Fresh Breath: Good oral hygiene practices help prevent bad breath caused by trapped food particles and bacteria around the braces.
- Protect Tooth Enamel: Regular cleaning helps protect tooth enamel from erosion and staining when plaque is not effectively removed.
Why is it More Challenging to Clean Your Teeth with Braces?
You might wonder, isn’t the whole point of getting braces to get aligned teeth that can give you a healthy smile?
While that is true, it is also essential to understand as a braces user that brushing and flossing with braces demands extra time and effort to clean around each bracket, wire, and band thoroughly.
Food and plaque become easily trapped around orthodontic appliances, raising your risk of gum inflammation, cavities, discolored teeth, and bad breath if you aren’t consistent with your cleaning routine. Plaque and tartar love to make cozy homes behind each brace mount and under the brace wires and bands. This means that you could be allowing cavities to thrive without spending that extra time to clean your teeth with braces.
How Do You Clean Teeth with Braces?
Gather Your Supplies
Having all the necessary tools at hand makes the cleaning process more efficient. Before you start brushing, ensure you have the following items ready:
- A cup
- Nonabrasive toothpaste
- A manual or electric toothbrush
- Floss and a floss threader or a water flosser
- Proxabrushes (also known as go-between or interdental brushes)
- Mouthwash
- A mirror
Begin with a Rinse
Understand the Angles
You’re ready to brush once you’ve rinsed your toothbrush and applied a small amount of nonabrasive toothpaste. Begin by holding the toothbrush at a 45-degree angle and gently brushing along the gum line. Next, adjust the angle to brush the tops of your brackets carefully. Then, tilt the toothbrush upwards to clean under the brackets and wires. Make sure to brush each tooth thoroughly, including the chewing surfaces and the inner sides of your teeth.
Take Your Time
With braces, taking your time and carefully brushing all the necessary surfaces of your teeth and braces is essential. Experts recommend brushing for at least two minutes, but it might take longer, especially as you get accustomed to brushing with braces.
Spend 30 seconds on each quadrant of your mouth—upper right, lower right, upper left, and lower left. Make sure to clean both the outer and inner surfaces of your teeth. Use a timer to ensure you brush for the full two minutes.
Flossing
Rinse Again
Review Your Work
Additional Tips to Keep Your Teeth Clean With Braces
- Make It a Habit: To minimize the risk of plaque and food particles settling and causing issues, aim to brush your teeth after every meal. Many people who are diligent about their dental hygiene even brush after snacks.
- Use a Soft Toothbrush: It’s essential to clean the area between your brackets and gums thoroughly. Choose a toothbrush with soft bristles to avoid gum irritation, and angle the brush toward the gums to ensure proper cleaning.
- Brush After Every Meal: Since braces can trap food debris, brushing frequently helps prevent plaque buildup. Consider carrying a travel toothbrush for convenience. If one isn’t available, rinse with water for 30 seconds. Avoid brushing immediately after consuming acidic foods like oranges or sports drinks; wait 30 minutes to an hour to prevent enamel softening.
- Limit Toothpaste Use: Excessive toothpaste can create foam that makes it harder to see plaque and debris. Start by brushing with just a wet toothbrush to clean around the brackets and wires. Use a gentle, picking motion rather than scrubbing, and then add a small amount of toothpaste to continue brushing.
- Finish with Mouthwash at Night: Choose an anti-cavity, fluoride mouthwash to help reduce tooth decay and protect enamel. Rinse for one minute to remove any remaining debris, and then check in the mirror for any missed areas.
Takeaway
Knowing how to clean your teeth with braces and maintaining oral hygiene while undergoing orthodontic treatment is extremely important, especially if you want to avoid cavities, plaque, and tartar buildup. This is mainly because getting braces makes cleaning around the mounts and wires more challenging.
Following a good oral care routine, you can navigate your braces treatment and enjoy a fully aligned and healthy smile.
If you have questions about brushing your teeth with braces or are having trouble reaching a specific area, don’t hesitate to book an appointment at Bright Smiles Family Dentistry.
Schedule your consultation today.
