Photo by Diana Polekhina

Originally Posted On: Tips and Tricks for Wearing Braces (indianlandorthodontics.com)

 

Do you think you need to wear braces?

There are a lot of factors that can cause you to need to wear braces as you age. Big and small accidents, genetics, and even your lifestyle can have an impact on your mouth structure. While there are a lot of options to help with alignment, traditional braces are often the choice made by most.

Others opt not to choose at all, simply because of the inconvenience brought by braces. However, wearing braces need not be such a hassle and inconvenience. There are a lot of ways for you to make the process easier.

Read on to see the things that you can do to make living with braces simpler. Help yourself as the braces help improve your smile and image!

Be Careful of What You Eat

Early on, your dentist will tell you to avoid certain foods. They’ll tell you to avoid hard foods, like candies and nuts, and foods like gum and caramel, which can cling to your braces and potentially break them.

What some people find out the hard way is that there are a lot more foods that are bad for you when you’re wearing braces. Some foods that are okay to eat with braces on the regular can snap your brackets off. Bagels are a good example of this.

They’re soft enough to not pose a threat to your braces as you chew them. However, when left overnight, they become too stale for you to eat. While still somewhat soft, they can be dense enough to bend your wires and break your brackets when bitten down on.

You should also be cautious of foods that are easy to bite down on. Raw carrots and taco shells are common culprits in this situation.

They’re easy to bite down on, but they don’t stay whole. They fragment into smaller bits, which can get in between your teeth and wires. These can build up and put pressure on your braces, often causing them to break or make your teeth crooked.

It’s best to only stick to soft food when you get your braces. Try to eat them in small bite, too. If you’re having trouble thinking of something to eat, a bowl of oatmeal is always ideal for people living with braces.

Avoiding Staining Foods

Some foods can also stain your teeth heavily. This becomes a much more pressing issue when you have braces on. The color difference will be notable once your dentist removes your brackets.

Coffee and tea can cause the yellowing of your teeth over time. Fruit juice, sodas, and energy drinks contain additives that can also stain and even corrode your enamel. Foods that contain tomatoes, soy sauce, and wine also do this to your teeth.

What’s great is that there are a lot of products that can help whiten your teeth. It’s still best to avoid them, though, as it can take a while for whitening products to work.

Stock Up on Dental Hygiene Products

Having braces means that you need to stock up on certain items. These aim to help you keep your mouth clean, especially during the first few weeks of wearing braces. This is the period when most people experience the challenges associated with the process.

Food getting caught on the brackets and wires make up the majority of the issues. Getting rid of these immediately is important to prevent damage to your braces. You can do this by using specialized tools you can get from your dentist.

Interdental brushes are small enough to fit in the space between your teeth and braces. These tools are also useful for cleaning braces.

For looser food particles, you can swish water around your mouth for around 20 seconds. Doing these is sure to remove most of the leftover food after each meal.

You can also opt to use orthodontic floss picks to clean the space between your teeth. Traditional floss can be awkward to use with brackets in place. After removing food particles, brush your teeth to maintain oral health.

Always Communicate With Your Dentist

Among the tips for wearing braces, nothing beats communicating with your dentist. It’s important for them to know how you’re doing while you’re wearing braces.

Don’t be shy when telling them that the braces are hurting your cheeks or so. They have dental wax to help ease any pain caused by the brackets. They can also prescribe numbing cream, but this option only lasts for a couple of hours.

It’s also important that you immediately tell them when your braces break off. This is so they can fix them immediately without your mouth structure reverting back to its original shape. Doing this soon is also ideal since broken brackets may irritate your cheeks and gums.

Other Small Tips While Living With Braces

During the first few weeks, you may feel that your teeth start becoming loose. Don’t panic as it’s something that happens naturally. It’s your gums adjusting to accommodate the new position of your teeth.

When this happens, avoid putting too much pressure on your mouth. Follow the guide to food mentioned above to avoid further damaging your oral structure.

Most people also find their lips getting chapped when they have braces on. This is because the edges of the brackets get caught when they try to speak, eat, or even when they’re sleeping.

A simple trick to preventing this from becoming an issue is by wearing lip balm. A layer of lip balm can greatly reduce how chapped your lips become. So, stock up on those, too, to ensure you don’t face any inconvenience during the whole process.

Live Without Discomfort While Wearing Braces

Living with braces need not be an unpleasant experience. These tips for wearing braces will help make things go much smoother as you wait for your alignment to improve. Keep this in mind and put yourself in comfort today!

Looking for a reputable orthodontist in your area that can help you? Contact us here and we’ll get in touch with you as soon as we can! The sooner you connect with us, the sooner you can start wearing braces!