Braces Tip 1: Release Your Irritations
Today we will share some braces tips with you. The first braces tip is the fact that these early wires that orthodontists use are made out of nickel-titanium. These wires have shape memory, which means that if you bend them, they’ll spring back to their original shape.
This original shape is more so in warmer temperatures, like in your mouth, so let’s say you’re in these early orthodontic wires, or you just got your braces adjusted recently, and you’re having a little bit of discomfort.
Well, you could temporarily inactivate that wire in your mouth by drinking or eating colder foods. All these things, like ice cream, cold jellos, and drinking cold water, will be really useful at deactivating that wire just for a little bit and giving you some relief from any braces discomfort. Just remember, if you eat these cold things and they’re sugary, like ice cream or jello, be sure to rinse your mouth after and then brush about 20 minutes later just to make sure that you don’t have any acidity or sugar lingering in the mouth.
Braces Tip 2: You can adjust a broken wire
If a wire ever gets loose or a bracket comes off, you don’t have to worry. If an orthodontist is not available or you are unable to visit an orthodontist, you can adjust the wire at home using a cotton swab or pencil tip. And if you have a wire or a bracket sticking from somewhere, you can also use dental wax on it.
Braces Tip 3: Eat before your orthodontic adjustments
The second braces tip that we have for you is to eat before your orthodontic adjustment or shortly thereafter. This is because, as you know, whenever you have an adjustment done with your braces, it doesn’t hurt when you’re in the office, but as time goes on in the day or into the evening, you might have a little bit of discomfort, and that’s because the biology in your mouth is adapting to those new forces that your orthodontist put on your braces.
And as you know, when you have this orthodontic discomfort, it’s a little bit tougher to eat foods that are a little bit stiffer or harder, so to preempt all of this, we know you’re going to be hungry that night, so eat before your adjustment or eat right after a while. Your teeth are still not sensitive by the time morning rolls around, but the next day you should be feeling a lot better.
So it’s easier to start eating again, and if you do get hungry again later on in the evening, just be sure to have soft foods readily available so that you can eat them easily.
Braces Tip 4: Brushing and Flossing with Braces
Brushing up can be difficult during the first week after getting braces, so there are some basic points that braces wearers need to understand for any type of braces.
Brush your teeth immediately after waking up in the morning, after meals and any snacks, and for at least three minutes before going to bed with normal toothpaste. If you are away from home and forget to bring your toothbrush, rinse well with water after eating, and remember to brush your teeth when you get home.
Use a soft-bristled toothbrush with medium pressure. Hold the brush at a 45-degree angle to the teeth, and brush up and down your brackets with a slight tilt. And be sure to brush around your gums to remove any food stuck in your gums.
Make sure to get into the habit of using orthodontic floss or floss thread at least once a day. Some food particles get stuck in the spaces in teeth that are not as easily removed by brushing after braces, so flossing can hopefully get them out, which will help maintain your oral hygiene.
Braces Tip 5: Get an orthodontic mouthguard
My next tip is to get an orthodontic mouthguard if you’re an athlete and you play sports while you’re in braces, so ask the doctor this question: How do I wear my mouthguard when I’m playing sports because it doesn’t fit? It makes sense because, if you think about it, your teeth are constantly shifting when they’re in braces.
If you’re in braces right now, your teeth today aren’t where they will be tomorrow. Another whole issue is that you’re not going to be able to get them off, so don’t do that. But your teeth are always shifting, so mouthguards are necessary for your teeth.
You don’t break brackets when you’re playing sports, but it also helps protect your lips and cheeks. Recommendations like that from braces are because we don’t want to let you be punched or hit in the face while you’re playing a sport and then your brackets get cut in your lips, and it’s just a disaster, so please, if you play sports, do invest in a mouthguard for the protection of your braces and speaking of sores and things like that.
Braces Tip 6: Always have wax available
The next brace tip that we recommend is to always have wax available and some sort of topical numbing gel. These gels can be like 20 benzocaine, Ambition, and things like that, and if you have a sore on your lip, what you can do is use a little ball of wax and put the wax on the bracket or brackets that are irritating your lip. Now, it’s going to be a little bit uncomfortable, so you can get one of these little numbing gels.
Make sure you dry your lip and put this little gel on it. It’ll put you in a little bit of comfort for about 10 to 15 minutes until it fades away, and that’ll just make your quality of life so much better, so make sure you have wax available to protect your lip from getting cut up again and also have these numbing gels to make sure that your lips stay numb and don’t bother you if you want to take it to the next level.
We do recommend rinsing with some warm salt water if you have a sore in your cheeks, on your lip, or something like that. That’ll help prevent bacterial overgrowth in that little area and make sure that it stays clean so your body can heal faster. On that note, it’s a lot easier for dry lips to get caught on braces and things like that and lead to these sores.
Braces Tip 7: Oral Hygiene
Make sure you have good oral hygiene while you’re going through your braces journey, maintain your oral hygiene, and try to brush twice a day. If you have puffy gums, you have an increased risk of cavities. While you’re going through your braces journey, a big life hack to prevent unnecessary emergencies like puffy gums and cavities is to invest in the right tools to maintain the best oral hygiene possible.
Get a good-quality toothbrush that is not too hard, and get into the habit of flossing after meals.
Braces Tip 8: Avoid Crunchy and Hard Foods
We’re going to move on to another tip, and this one should be pretty obvious, you know, like avoiding foods that are hard, crunchy, and chewy that will break the braces off and that don’t use your teeth as tools, okay?
If you need to open up something, go get a scissor or a tool that’ll help you open up something, but don’t try to use your teeth to tear open bags or things like that. You must not be comfortable, right? So please don’t use your teeth as tools, whether this is with braces or without, but especially when you’re in braces, just because there’s so much more stuff in your mouth and you don’t want to break any brackets or things like that.
Braces Tip 9: Rubber bands
This is not right when you get your braces on, or it might be, but it’s when you get rubber bands to wear between your upper and lower jaws to get your teeth to fit together properly. The biggest tip we have for you is to prevent months of overtreatment. When you get these elastics prescribed to you, make sure you know how to wear them properly. Don’t leave the orthodontic office until you know how to do this properly, and if you forget to make sure, give them a call to clarify because if you wear the rubber bands the wrong way, you’re going to go in the opposite direction in your treatment; you’re going to regress and make your treatment go way longer, and that’s something the orthodontist doesn’t want you to have to deal with.
So before you leave the orthodontist, make sure you know how to wear your rubber bands properly and wear them as they prescribe. If they say for you to wear them all day, please wear them all day. So please just listen to the recommendations, and your treatment will go super smoothly.
Braces Tip 10: Don’t miss appointments
The final braces tip for you is to not miss your orthodontic appointments. We know that this happens sometimes, and you know, life isn’t just about teeth. Do you have things that you need to cancel or reschedule?
Be sure not to fall too far off track, because when your orthodontist prescribes that they want to see you after 4 or 6 weeks, you know there’s a reason. why they’re waiting that long, so if you go in too soon or you go in too late or things like that can drag on your treatment time, and that’s something that you won’t want. If you want to get in and out of this process as quickly as possible, please make sure you go to your orthodontist as they prescribe so that your braces journey does not extend forever, okay, and as promised.
Conclusion
So I hope you found these braces tips very useful and educational, and if you have anything that I forgot to mention, please let me know. You can follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok.