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Straightening your teeth can have a world of benefits. It can give you more confidence in your smile, make it easier to keep your teeth clean, and improve the alignment of your front and back teeth so that chewing is easier. However, since orthodontic treatment often takes over a year, it is important to know how to care for your smile during that time.

Maintain Good Dental Hygiene

Maintaining your oral hygiene regimen is even more important now

that you have braces. Brush your teeth twice a day using a fluoride-containing toothpaste, and floss at least once a day. To make flossing in between your wires and brackets easier, ask us about a floss threader. Use a mouthwash daily to kill germs.

Eat a Mouth-Healthy Diet

Limit sweets and sugar-sweetened beverages, such as soft drinks and fruit drinks, to avoid having sugar on your teeth and increasing your risk of tooth decay. You’ll also need to avoid certain foods because they are too gummy, hard, or likely to get stuck in or damage your braces.

Orthodontic treatment or not, eating sticky, sugary foods is never healthy because they increase your risk of developing tooth decay. Instead, opt for nutritious choices such as fruits and vegetables, dairy products, and lean proteins.

Orthodontic treatment will give you a better smile and the benefits that come with it. Make sure you take full advantage of your treatment by keeping your mouth clean so that your smile is white and healthy when your braces come off!

Your dentist is the perfect healthcare professional to look to when you are experiencing tooth grinding and the many symptoms that go along with that. We are here to help. After all, we know that teeth grinding can be a nuisance that causes headaches and sleep problems. It also can cause lasting problems for your teeth and gums, including chipped teeth, worn enamel, chronic pain, or even TMJ, a painful jaw disorder.

Our team utilizes TruDenta systems, which have been designed to relieve headaches, migraines, jaw pain or facial pain. Through proven state–of–the–art technologies in the fields of advanced dentistry and medicine, you can finally get headache and migraine relief in a way that will:

• Reduce your pain levels and the number of days in pain
• Provide headache relief without dependence on drug related solutions
• Give you control of your healing process
• Possibly even give you your life back… you know the one before all this pain took you down the path of “trying to cope”

The first step of recovering from teeth grinding is noticing the problem. Symptoms of teeth grinding include:

• Sensitivity in the teeth
• Tightness or pain in the jaw
• Dull headaches, earaches or facial pain
• Chipped, worn down or loose teeth

If you have been experiencing pain, our team can help determine the cause of the problem. TruDenta dentists are uniquely equipped with state-of-the-art technology to quickly examine and diagnose force-related symptoms.

It’s time to talk with our office about how we can help you with TruDenta. A simple painless screening test can determine if TruDenta is right for you. To learn more, please give us a call today. Grinding your teeth can negatively impact your smile and chewing function. It can be related to sore painful muscles, headaches, and sleep problems. Please ask us about TruDenta today.

Having braces can present some new challenges when it comes to oral hygiene. It is essential that you put some extra attention into preventing tooth decay while wearing your braces. When your braces are finally removed, you want a beautiful, white smile, not decayed or stained teeth. Here are a few tips to help you keep your teeth healthy while wearing your braces:

Learn Proper Brushing Techniques

Place your toothbrush at a 45-degree angle against the gums in order to clean the whole tooth, and brush gently in the area between the wiring and the teeth. Use a softer toothbrush with fluoride toothpaste for best results. Using an oral rinse every day will help, too. Rinsing with mouthwash is important regardless, but especially important when you have braces, as you need to disinfect the entire mouth, including those spots under the braces where your brush can’t always reach.

Brush after Every Meal

Since braces block food from naturally escaping your teeth after eating, it’s important that you take the time to brush and floss after every meal. The less time food has to sit on your teeth, the less likely it is to cause decay. This may seem like an inconvenience, but when you get your braces off, you will be very glad you brushed after every meal.

Eat Braces-Safe Foods

When you have braces, there are certain foods that you must avoid. For starters, sticky foods such as caramel or gum can get stuck in your braces and are difficult to remove during brushing. Avoid hard foods, too, such as nuts and candy. Those goodies can bend wires or even break a bracket. And while you may love apples, carrots, or corn on the cob, they’re too firm or hard to bite into and can damage your braces. Crunchy treats can also harm your orthodontic appliances. It’s best to stay away from chips and popcorn, which can damage your braces. So just what can you eat? We recommend soft foods that are low in enamel-busting acids, such as bananas, mangoes, milk, water, poultry, and pasta.

Get Regular Checkups

It’s important to keep your routine appointments with your dentist and dental hygienist for a thorough cleaning twice a year or as directed. The exact frequency of these visits will be up to your dentist, as some types of braces are more demanding of a regular cleaning than others.

As long as you practice good oral hygiene and follow these basic tips, you should have no problem keeping your teeth healthy while you wear braces.

Orthodontic treatment corrects the alignment of your teeth and jaws so that you can speak clearly, chew food effectively, and look attractive when you smile. This is done by putting sophisticated gadgets in your mouth. While many of these dental devices look similar, our orthodontist uses a wide variety of orthodontic appliances to straighten your teeth and repair jaw problems.

Orthodontic appliances are devices that move your teeth, change the position of your jaw, or hold your teeth in their finished positions after the orthodontist removes your braces. These devices may be attached to your teeth or removable.

Braces straighten your teeth. Brackets, bands, and wires characterize traditional braces. Braces are attached to the teeth, so they are not easily removable.
Spacers are small plastic rings fitted between your back teeth before your braces are placed. These spacers create space between your teeth to optimize the alignment your braces provide.

Retainers hold teeth in their finished position after your braces come off. A Hawley retainer is the most common type of retainer; it features an acrylic plate that rests against the roof of your mouth and a wire crossing in front of your teeth. Essex retainers are quite popular as well, as they are durable and nearly invisible. Some retainers can even be affixed to the lingual, or tongue side, of your teeth.

Bite plates correct a deep bite, where the upper front teeth come down too far over the lower front teeth to cause bite problems.
Holding arches prevent the back teeth from moving forward to crowd the front teeth. A lower lingual holding arch prevents your permanent molars from migrating forward. The Nance holding arch maintains space between teeth after you lose baby teeth and before the permanent teeth come in.

A palatal expander widens your upper jaw by separating the bones of your palate. This appliance helps your top and bottom teeth fit together better. The Quad Helix widens your jaws to create more room for crowded teeth.

Contact our office today to learn more about the orthodontic appliances we use to straighten smiles, and to schedule an appointment for yourself.