Helping Lake Mary Smile Bigger
Dr. Beim is known for creating healthy, beautiful smiles in Lake Mary and the surrounding communities.
Here are some tips for taking care of your braces from the team at Beim Orthodontics.
Ortho Care
It's important to take especially good care of your teeth during orthodontic treatment.
By brushing and flossing regularly, you'll keep your teeth and gums healthy and ensure that your orthodontic treatment will deliver the best results possible.
When your braces come off, you'll see that your extra efforts have been rewarded with a healthy, great-looking smile that you'll be proud to show off for the rest of your life.
If you fail to spend the extra time caring for your braces properly, you could end up with white spots on your teeth once the braces are removed or subpar results.
Doing Your Part
To get the healthy and beautiful smile that you want, you, your family dentist, and Dr. Beim will work together as a team.
As the patient, you play the key part in the success of your treatment. It's up to you to make sure that you follow your treatment plan from start to finish. Most importantly, you must keep your teeth clean and maintain good dental hygiene while you're wearing braces.
Proper dental care will take a little extra time and effort, but the results are well worth it. It will help you achieve the best possible smile results from your orthodontic treatment.
Plaque Is Your Enemy
Plaque is a sticky, colorless film that can build up on your teeth. It's made of bacteria, food, and saliva. If you let plaque and trapped food stay on and around your braces, they can cause swollen gums, bad breath, cavities, and permanent marks on your teeth.
As your Lake Mary orthodontist, we advise brushing your teeth regularly to remove this plaque. We teach all of our patients the correct way to floss while wearing braces to make sure you remove all plaque regularly.
When To Clean
Brush thoroughly each time you have a meal or snack. If you can't brush right away after a meal, be sure to at least rinse your mouth well with water until the next time you can brush.
Keep a travel toothbrush with you so that you can brush even when you're not home. At least once every day, brush your teeth and braces thoroughly until they are spotlessly clean, and then floss. This takes a little extra time, so we recommend doing this at night before going to bed.
How To Brush Efficiently
During your braces treatment, you will need to relearn the basics of brushing your teeth. Relearning this everyday task will teach you to pay attention to the cracks and crevices not only between teeth but around brackets and wires.
Keep these tips in mind when brushing your teeth with braces:
- Use a fluoride toothpaste and a soft, rounded-bristle toothbrush that's in good condition. Since braces wear out your toothbrush quickly, replace your brush as soon as it shows signs of wear.
- Brush around all the parts of your braces and every surface of your teeth - fronts, sides and backs. Be sure to brush your tongue and the roof of your mouth. A good way to tell if you're brushing correctly is if your braces look clean and shiny, and you can see the edges of the brackets clearly.
- Brush your gums gently and thoroughly.
- Rinse thoroughly after brushing.
- Inspect your teeth and braces carefully to make sure they are spotless. Look closely in a well-lighted mirror. This is a good time to check for loose or broken brackets. If you find a problem, contact Beim Orthodontics to see if it needs to be checked out and if we need to schedule a time to make a repair.
How To Floss
Our helpful Lake Mary orthodontic staff will help you learn proper flossing techniques when you choose us for your orthodontic care.
These tips for flossing with braces will make the process easier for you, and you'll be a pro in no time.
- Floss each night before you go to bed so you won't feel rushed.
- When flossing with braces on, it is sometimes necessary to use what's called a floss threader. This reusable tool allows you to get dental floss underneath your archwire easily.
- Make sure you clean carefully along and under the gumlines.
- Flossing with braces may seem like a difficult process, but it's very important. And as with anything, a little practice will help you adjust.
Other Hygiene Helpers
In addition to the regular dental hygiene tools we are familiar with like toothbrushes and floss, there are a few additional products we can recommend that make brushing teeth with braces a little easier to manage.
- Interproximal Brush: This tool slips under your archwire to remove plaque and food particles near your brackets more thoroughly.
- Prescription Fluoride Toothpaste or Fluoride Rinse: Use once a day as part of your cleaning routine, if prescribed by Dr. Beim. For the best results, use with your interproximal brush to deliver maximum fluoride protection to your teeth.
- Power Toothbrush or Waterpik: These devices, such as the Oral-B Professional Series toothbrush, are designed to make brushing easier and more efficient, even during braces treatment.
Problems Caused By Poor Oral Hygiene
Good dental hygiene is critical during orthodontic treatment. Without it, plaque and food can build up around your braces.
The bacteria in plaque reacts with sugars and starches in food and form an acid that can eat away the enamel on your teeth, leading to white marks, cavities or gum disease.
- If plaque accumulates around your braces, it can leave permanent stains on your teeth called decalcification. Lines and spots from decalcification will remain on your teeth for life.
- Periodontal disease, caused by the buildup of plaque, occurs in three stages. In the first stage, plaque build up irritates the gums, causing them to be puffy or swollen. They may also bleed when you brush or floss. This condition is called gingivitis.
- Over time, this buildup of plaque may harden into a substance called tartar. As tartar accumulates, gaps or pockets may form between your gums and teeth. Even more tartar can collect in these pockets. This is called periodontitis.
- Pockets of bacteria form and deepen beneath your gums, attacking and destroying the bone that anchors your teeth. This can even cause healthy teeth to loosen or eventually fall out. This is called advanced periodontitis.
Prevent Gum Disease
Early gum disease is reversible with professional help and good home oral care, but if you ignore it, it can worsen.
Gum disease is usually painless, so you need to pay attention to signs like bleeding or swollen and puffy gums. Carefully follow Dr. Beim and the Beim Orthodontics team's directions on hygiene to avoid these problems.