The best tips for caring for your teeth with braces

Category: Braces · 20 March 2019

This won’t be news to you: dental floss plays an important role in dental care. Flossing every day matters. If you’re currently wearing braces, you may have noticed that it isn’t all that easy to get your teeth properly clean with an orthodontic appliance in your mouth.

There are lots of products and techniques to help you keep your gums healthy – even while you’re wearing braces.

Flossing techniques and products for braces

Tip 1: Use a floss threader.

A floss threader makes it even easier to clean the gaps between your teeth. A threader is a flexible plastic loop that lets you guide dental floss between your teeth.

The technique: pull the floss through each gap between your teeth so that every space gets cleaned.

In detail:

Push some floss through the eye of the threader, as if you were threading a sewing needle.
Guide the plastic needle under the archwire/appliance and use it to pull the floss between your teeth.
Take hold of the floss with your fingers and move it between your teeth just as you normally would.
Pull the floss out and repeat

Use a special brush.

A must for everyone with braces. An interproximal brush is a tiny, cone-shaped brush designed to slip under the archwire and remove plaque and food particles from hard-to-reach areas around the brackets and between the teeth.

Interdental brushes are not meant to replace dental floss but to complement it. They can’t clean the spaces between the teeth as thoroughly as floss and should therefore be used together with floss, so that the spaces behind the braces are cleaned properly.

Simply guide the brush under the wire and between the teeth.

Interdental brushes may not be available everywhere, but your dentist will be happy to provide you with some. They come in a handy size.

Rinse, rinse.

Many dentists and orthodontists recommend an oral irrigator (water flosser). The gentle jet of water removes food debris and so cleans the gaps between the teeth. Many dentists see it not as a replacement for floss, but as a complement to it.

The oral irrigator also stimulates the gums. This can be particularly helpful and healing if the gums are inflamed or have receded.

Use mouthwash

Another good tip that freshens your breath and keeps your teeth clean while you’re wearing braces: add a mouthwash to your dental care routine. As you swish the liquid back and forth, you remove food debris from every corner of your mouth while bathing your teeth in the solution.

Consider invisible aligners

You can take the virtually invisible aligners out to eat and to clean your teeth. So if you don’t want to wrestle with tricky flossing techniques, consider treatment with invisible aligners.

Conclusion: flossing with braces

Braces are often a convenient excuse for skipping daily flossing. Good oral hygiene is always important, but it’s even more important when you’re wearing braces. With brackets and wires in your mouth, it’s even easier for food debris and plaque to build up.

If you have any further questions, you can find out more about invisible braces and dental hygiene on our website.

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