What you eat that can fuel dental problems. Every time you eat foods containing sugars or starches, the bacteria in your mouth rapidly grow and produce acid which dissolve the tooth enamel to cause decay. These acids can attack for 20 minutes or more each time you eat! So think about these points before you eat.
It’s important to avoid certain kinds of foods that can damage your braces. Don’t eat hard and crispy food like chikki, chakli hard nuts or chocolates and sticky foods, such as chewing gum, caramel, popcorn, eclair. They can bend wire or break braces.
Don’t cut foods from front teeth like carrots, apples or toast sandwich, burger or Pizza crust etc you can cut them into small pieces & chew from back teeth.
Food stuffs to avoid during braces treatment
Bad habits to avoid.
Without braces also, you should brush your teeth two to three times a day, especially before sleeping and stay away from sugary foods in order to avoid tooth decay.
But those with braces need to practice not good but exceptional oral hygiene. Because braces can collect food and plaque, you need to be extra careful about keeping your teeth clean.
Not looking after your teeth may permanently damage your teeth, during braces procedure.
When: 4-5 times per day preferably after each meal.
With: A soft-bristle Orthodontic toothbrush and interdental wide space brush.
How: Use a brush with a small amount of toothpaste. Use circular motions around the gum lines and the surfaces of your teeth, 2-3 circular strokes on each tooth. Then brush the chewing surfaces of your teeth and brush your tongue and the roof of your mouth as well. Rinse thoroughly.
One can use interdental wide space brush for cleaning tooth surfaces behind wire not easily accessible with routine brushing.
Concentrate on the danger zone that is space between the brackets and the gums.
Water jet spray (Oral-care water jet)
A fluoride mouth rinse for extra protection
Always use fluoridated tooth paste
Go for professional fluoride application before and during treatment. (especially in high risk patients)
Playing sports while wearing braces.
You can continue to participate in any sport you choose. When playing sports where there is a possibility of getting hit in the mouth, a specially designed mouth guard will need to be worn. The mouth guard, made of durable silicon, is designed to fit over your braces and will protect the soft tissues inside your mouth. Sports like boxing and wrestling should be avoided. Fighting should also be avoided.
Retainer is must after every braces treatment. Once teeth are moved to desired correct position it takes many months for bone to adapt tooth in new position. Many patients don’t consider retainers very important part of treatment which may later leads to repeat braces treatment at additional treatment fees. There are mainly different types of retainers available. Our braces specialist will suggest you ideal type of retainers for your particular problem. See below video to know why retainers are important part of treatment.
They are placed after the fixed appliances have been removed, your teeth need to stabilize while the bone builds up around them. There are 2 types of removable retainers available today.
These retainers are made out of wires, clasps and plastic and are constructed for the purpose of holding teeth passively after active teeth alignment with Braces. They create slight discomfort in speech for first few days initially and thin wire is visible from front teeth but are sturdier than Essix retainers.
The other type of retainers which are currently very popular are the invisible clear plastic retainer. As the name suggest they are not visible from a distance. These retainers are delicate and removable, hence their use and care is entirely dependent upon the patient. Strict attention to instructions is absolutely necessary.
These retainers are delicate and require on-going maintenance. We advise not to bite anything from front teeth till these retainers are there, (if it has chipped off, or come away from any tooth, please call us immediately.) We recommend these retainers be in place permanently (especially when teeth are spaced to begin with and have high tendency to relapse), but for minimum period of two years. Please note that should you decide to remove these fixed retainers after two years, you should at least wear your removable retainers otherwise there is always a chance that some shifting of teeth may occur.
In high relapse cases we prefer to give both removable and fixed retainers for double safety, our braces specialist will suggest you ideal type of retainers for your particular problem.
