Tips on Living and Eating with Braces
Braces are a part of life for many teenagers and adults. They can straighten teeth to make them easier to clean, more effective to chew with and to provide a nicer smile. When cared for correctly, braces can improve your dental health for the rest of your life. Unfortunately, if they are not cared for correctly, they can bring on more cavities.
What to Eat or Avoid
It is easy to underestimate the importance of a healthy diet to improve your dental health. While wearing braces, you should maintain a well-balanced diet with good variety in your food. You should also avoid certain foods that do not pair well with braces. These foods include hard or sticky candy, gum, and many crunchy snacks like popcorn, nuts, and ice.
Cleaning Braces Properly
Cleaning your braces requires choosing the correct toothbrush. An electric toothbrush often makes it easier to more adequately clean around your braces. You can also use it to effectively clean the inside of your teeth. Once you have done a good job using your toothbrush, it is time to brush around the braces themselves.
For this, you want to get a special braces brush. This will allow you to scrub your teeth under and around the brackets and wires of your braces. You will want to be sure to get all of the food particles that are likely to be trapped here.
While flossing with braces can be challenging, it is even more important than flossing when you do not have braces. Be sure to get all-around each individual tooth. Your dentist near you in Randolph, MA, or orthodontist can help you with your flossing technique. Luckily, there are also lots of tools that can make this process easier.
The final step to keeping up with your dental hygiene is to use a good mouthwash. As you brush and floss around your braces, you are likely to knock bits of food loose. With braces, it is easy for those bits to remain trapped in the cracks and crevices of your dental hardware. A brisk mouthwash can break them loose and remove them from your mouth entirely.