Getting braces can be a big adjustment.
It can take some time to get used to your new orthodontics and you may need to adjust your habits.
In today’s blog, our friendly team will outline a few tips that can help you adjust to your new life with braces.
Start with Soft Foods
Your teeth and gums will need a few days to adjust to your braces after they’ve been tightened. Smoothies, soups, pasta, and eggs are all good options. You can also cut up your food into bite-sized pieces, which will help you avoid any irritation while your mouth gets used to the new settings.
Avoid Certain Foods
You probably won’t have to give up all your favourite foods, but some foods are especially notorious for getting caught in braces. These include:
Chewy foods such as bagels or licorice
Crunchy foods like chips or lollipops
Sticky foods, including Skittles or Starburst candy
Hard foods like nuts
It’s very important to watch what you eat when you are wearing braces. The many brackets, bands, and archwires can be damaged by your eating habits, which can mean expensive replacements.
Brush and Floss Often
This is good advice even if you don’t have braces, but it is even more important when you do have them. Food can get trapped in the braces and decay, causing cavities very quickly if not removed.
The best way to combat this is to brush after every meal.
Meanwhile, floss will become your best friend when it comes to keeping your braces clean. Flossing multiple times per day can really go a long way to keeping your teeth in good shape.
Carry a Cleaning Kit with You
As should be clear, keeping your braces clean is very important. Keeping a cleaning kit on you, even if it just a floss threader or a toothbrush, can help you prevent tooth decay.
Avoid Bad Chewing Habits
If you have a habit of chewing on things, such as pencils or your fingernails or anything other than food, you should try to quit those habits immediately. Chewing on hard objects can aggravate your sensitive teeth and damage your hardware.
Managing Discomfort
There will be some irritation for the first little while, of course, but there are some things you can do to help manage the discomfort.
Use an ice pack on the outside of your mouth to help reduce inflammation.
You can also use over-the-counter pain medication to help manage any pain.
If a tie wire is irritating you, cover it with wax or tuck it behind an archwire using a Q-tip.
A broken wire can be covered with wax until your next scheduled appointment.
Loose pieces, such as a band or bracket, can be left in place while you schedule an exam to see if it needs to be reattached immediately or if it can wait.
Durham Dental Centre Provides Orthodontics in Ajax
At Durham Dental Centre in Ajax, our goal is to help you reach the best smile possible. We offer orthodontics services for patients throughout the area and we can provide you with many more tips to help you adjust to life with braces. Just give us a call today.