How To Brush Your Teeth With Braces

Brushing your teeth while wearing braces might seem difficult or at least confusing. But your orthodontist can guide you in the best ways to keep your teeth healthy and free of decay while your teeth are straightened. It’s not nearly as challenging as you might think. In fact, it’s really pretty easy once you learn how.

Start by Rinsing Your Mouth

Keeping your teeth clean when you wear braces starts by rinsing your mouth. It’s a simple step that will get rid of any food particles that are adhering to your braces. If you can, rinse your mouth throughout the day, especially after you eat but you can’t take the time brushing your teeth. This easy step can really make a difference in your dental care.

Brushing Your Teeth

As helpful as rinsing your mouth, teeth, and braces may be, you still have to brush your teeth with toothpaste. Just begin at the gumline, and at an angle, start brushing. Angling your brush and starting there you’ll get rid of any food particles collecting there and ready to form bacteria. It will also stimulate and keep gums healthy.

Just be careful not to be too forceful. You don’t want to injure your sensitive gums. And make sure you are using a toothbrush that’s soft or ultra soft, to brush both the front and back of each tooth gently.

For the most effective and efficient method of brushing your teeth, it is recommended to use a rechargeable electric toothbrush such as the Oral-B or Sonicare brands.

Brush Brackets Slowly

Brushing with brackets can make you a little nervous at first, and we get that. But seriously, just move slowly, going through your mouth with your toothbrush bracket by bracket, one at a time. Go top to bottom, and move slowly through your mouth so you won’t pull brackets or wires. And be sure to relax. You’ll see, it’s not that difficult.

Floss or Waterpik or Sonicare Power Flosser

Because flossing is important for dental hygiene, after you brush your teeth, you’ll want to floss them. If moving floss around your braces seems difficult, or the idea of moving floss so carefully overwhelms you, a Waterpik can be a simple solution. 

Basically, a Waterpik or power flosser works just like regular flossing, removing plaque that can build up all too easily in places that are difficult to reach with just your toothbrush. Using a Waterpik instead of regular floss won’t cause any risk or potentially tangle in your braces. And it’s easy to use a Waterpik once you become familiar with how it works.

Like anything else of course, practice makes perfect, but once you use it, a Waterpik or power flosser can be a terrific idea for dental care when you have braces. 

Easy Does It Dental Care

There’s just one main thing to remember when you brush and floss your teeth while wearing braces: take it easy. Just be careful, and remember to brush twice a day and floss at least once, whether with waterpik or your regular floss.

And, don’t forget the easy and helpful tool of rinsing your mouth after you eat throughout the day, whenever it’s possible to do so. 
Garrick F. Wong DMD Orthodontics provides orthodontic treatment including interceptive orthodontics, traditional braces, and Invisalign to Greenwich, CT, and its surrounding communities.