This Blog was posted by Clearview Dental – your Family Dentist in Milton, Ontario

Dental Braces

How To Take Good Care Of Your Braces?

Food particles and plaque can accumulate on braces in no time at all. Lack of proper oral hygiene while wearing braces can result in tooth decay or other periodontal diseases.
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You must follow a routine plaque control program similar to what is explained below:

A special orthodontic toothbrush or a soft toothbrush can be used.
As flossing with braces is harder to do and time consuming, use of super-floss, floss threaders etc. can be beneficial. In order to remove hard to reach plaque and food particles between tooth and braces, an inter-dental brush can be really helpful.
Oral irrigators can be added help in cleaning up your teeth faster.
Risk of cavities can be reduced by the regular use of a mouthwash with fluoride in it.
Do not eat hard to bite food items as they can loosen or bend braces.
Consume fruits and vegetables only in small pieces and always chew them using the back teeth.
Chewing gum, candy items etc should not be used as they can loosen, break or bend the braces.
Reduce you sugar consumption as sugar is known to raise the risk of tooth decay.
Never miss out on any of your follow up dental appointments.
It is not an easy task to take proper care of your teeth with braces, but the hope of attaining a killer smile should act as a motivation for you in doing so.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why Should I Get Braces?

A great smile can change your face totally. Braces can help you to attain a much brighter smile. Adjusting the teeth and thus making changes in the way your face is seen can help in achieving this. This will in turn add to your
self-confidence and over all good feeling. Your digestion will improve as you chew better. Uneven teeth can be a problem in chewing properly. If food goes to the stomach without getting chewed properly, that can cause indigestion or malnutrition. Reduced risk of future dental problems. If you do not use braces and get your teeth fixed, you may be facing multiple dental problems for years. You may find it difficult to clean uneven teeth. Your teeth and gums may be facing unnecessary wear and tear. After suffering through such problems for years, many adults are opting for braces these days. You can reduce the risk of breathing problems. As people get older, the roof of their mouth may cause some blockage in their nose and cause breathing trouble. This may cause snoring or sleep apnea. Braces from an orthodontist can reduce these risks. Uneven teeth are prone to get damaged faster and this problem can be
significantly reduced. Take care of harmful habits.

Why Do We Need Braces?

Orthodontic problems are part of human genetic system. People have been growing steadily in size over the last few millennia. The proportion of size increase for human teeth was at a considerably faster level than the rest of his face.
This resulted in having bigger teeth than what can fit properly in people’s mouth. So an orthodontist takes charge of the situation so as to rearrange your teeth and resize your mouth as much as possible.

Is There Any Other Reasons For People To Get Braces?

Babies using pacifiers for a very long time, sucking fingers even after they turn two years old, habit of biting finger nails, habit of biting lips, injuries to the mouth etc can result in orthodontic problems. Sudden stoppage of
breastfeeding can also cause similar problems. But the main reason for most people is the faster pace of teeth growth compared to growth of their mouth. As it is a standard feature of human growth, you don’t have any choice other than
facing it.

How Does Orthodontics Work?

Braces bring each of the teeth in to the desired positions by the application of gentle and consistent pressure. When you look at your braces, they may look like they are sitting idle. But all through the orthodontic procedure, there are some small helpful changes happening in your mouth. The major parts of braces are the brackets placed on each teeth and arch wire, which joins the arches together. Brackets are made of metal or ceramic and are designed to fit on to each tooth. Now the orthodontist will stretch the arch so as to bring the desired look after the treatment is over. The arch wire will be constantly applying pressure on the brackets and will bring the teeth in to the right positions.

The orthodontist is able to stretch your jaw so to make space for all your teeth to fit in comfortably. As a next step, the teeth will be pushed in to the appropriate spaces. He can use a “palatal expander” so as to stretch your upper jaw. Again, a “facebow” can be used to push back any teeth sticking outwards. With all these gadgets at his disposal, your orthodontist can move your teeth and jaw so as to get the perfect smile you always dreamed about.