14 Sep How Do I Keep My Braces Clean?

When it comes to maintaining your oral health, a consistent simple routine of daily brushing and flossing along with using a fluoride-based mouthwash is the trifecta for creating a healthy environment for your teeth and gums. If you are engaging in these activities daily then you are really on top of your oral health game (congrats!) and your routine cleaning visits with your friends here at McIlwain Dental are probably short and sweet. But what about cleaning and caring for orthodontics?

Orthodontia is an investment in personal happiness. Like many good investments, it requires time, money and patience to cultivate the best opportunity for a solid return. Fortunately for you and your smile medical science has a much better track record than Wall Street when it comes to predicting most outcomes that involve all that time and money. But, there are still things you can do to help ensure that you are also doing everything you can to protect your investment as well.  Let’s go over some tips to help keep your braces clean and your teeth tidy.

Getting braces means getting a mouthful of help to align your smile and get you to show it off to the world! That means bands, brackets, elastics, expanders, screws, springs and wires will all be working together to get your teeth where they need to be–and that also means a lot more nooks and crannies for bacteria to hide and grow. This can derail your investment quite quickly if you don’t stay on top of it.

If you are already practicing a good routine of brushing, flossing, and using a fluoride-based mouthwash then you are already on the right track.  While you will have to alter some of your tactics based on your personal orthodontic situation, the basics are still the basics when it comes to keeping your mouth clean when you have braces.  Brushing your teeth and brackets will help keep those surfaces from growing plaque.  Flossing and interdental picks are also useful for dislodging food stuck between teeth and adding an oral irrigation system to your routine is also a good idea (even after you don’t need braces anymore).

Following these tips will help you in your quest to have the happiest mouth in the world. If you still have further questions about how orthodontics work or how to clean and maintain them, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We’re here to help you smile 🙂