Caring For Your Braces

Once you are in treatment, it is extremely important to brush and floss regularly to ensure that your teeth and gums remain healthy. The patient must work together with the Dr. Zhu to ensure a successful treatment. Your teeth can only move toward their corrected positions if you follow the Dr. Zhu's instructions such as keeping your braces clean, avoiding certain foods and candy, and wearing your rubber bands (if needed).

Properly Brushing Your Teeth with Braces

Extra time is needed when brushing to ensure that all areas around the braces have been cleaned properly. Gently brush above and below the braces in a circular motion – brush for 10 seconds around each tooth.

Specialized brush tips are available to help get in between the braces and under the wires. Floss-threaders are helpful in passing floss under archwires to facilitate flossing of the teeth. Over-the-counter mouth rinses can be used to help reduce the level of bacteria around the teeth.

The goal is to remove plaque from around the teeth and gums. It is the bacteria in plaque that is responsible for causing inflamed gum tissue – also known as gingivitis, permanent scarring of enamel (decalcification), as well as tooth decay. Remember, braces don’t cause these problems, they just make cleaning the teeth more difficult.

Eating with Braces

Avoiding hard, sticky, crunchy and chewy foods will also keep your braces intact and help to make your treatment flow smoothly. During the first few days after getting your braces on or after an adjustment, you may need to eat soft foods. After a few days, you'll be able to eat normally again. Nonetheless, you'll still need to be careful when chewing to avoid damaging your braces.

Here are some examples of foods that you should avoid in order to protect your braces:

Bubble Gum, Corn on the Cob, Peanuts, Almonds, Bagels, Hard Rolls, Popcorn, Caramel / Nutty Candy Bars, Taffy, Apples, Pears.

Many food items are not listed above, you should always use common sense when deciding what to eat. If it looks hard or sticky, you should avoid it just to be safe. These items can damage your braces - which can extend your treatment time by many months. 

General Soreness

After you get your braces on, you may feel some soreness in your gums - this can be relieved by rinsing your mouth with warm salt water or by taking Tylenol. The inside of your lips and cheeks can also become irritated for a while as they become accustomed to the surface of the braces. You can apply wax on the braces to lessen this discomfort. Click here for detailed instructions on how to apply brace wax and to handle issues with your braces.