Maintaining good oral hygiene with braces is essential for preventing complications during the realignment process. If you develop cavities on multiple teeth, it could potentially increase the number of adjustments needed to achieve your final smile. To help you maintain good oral hygiene with braces, your orthodontist, Dr. John Fleming, offers the following insights.
When brushing your teeth twice each day, interdental brushes can be helpful. They have small-tapered heads to help clean food particles and plaque from hard-to-reach places. They are especially handy for getting small food particles out of bands and around spacers.
When flossing your teeth each evening, braces wires can sometimes make it challenging to floss between your teeth and along the gumline. A floss threader is a simple, loop-shaped tool that can insert a strand of waxed dental floss into these places.
An oral irrigator creates a small stream of water that can help loosen and wash away food particles. While this can help clean the gumline, this stream of water cannot replace the effectiveness of flossing for cleaning away plaque and residual food particles.
If you have questions about maintaining good oral hygiene with braces in Johns Creek, Georgia, you can always call 770-609-3270 to seek further advice from a member of our Quality Orthodontic Care team.