If you know anyone with braces, or perhaps have braces yourself, you will know that life is a little different once these helpful and sometimes bothersome aligning devices become attached to your teeth.
Whether you are eating, flossing, brushing or just going about your daily life, braces can become a bit of a hassle if you haven’t gotten entirely used to them yet. With that in mind, in time, these devices will become a little more comfortable and less cumbersome, and you’ll be on your way to improved teeth alignment and a better smile in no time!
Those points out of the way, we have eight great tips for people with braces below that might make your life a little easier this year.
Staying Away from Hard and Sticky Foods
Off the top, our first tip is to stray as far as you can from food that is either hard or sticky as you’re going to find that these will become trapped in your braces and be hard to clean from time to time.
On top of this, these foods can also cause an issue when it comes to your brace’s longevity, in that hard foods and foods that are a little chewy or sticky can actually damage or even break your braces.
With that said — keep away from foods that are a little too hard or sticky for your liking.
Gargling Salt Water Improves Pain
When you first have your braces placed on your teeth, you may find that there is a little discomfort or even scraping inside the mouth.
This holds true for both traditional metal braces as well as Invisalign treatment, and dealing with this pain and helping your body to heal can be as simple as gargling salt water and going from there.
As you might already know, saltwater is great at mitigating and wiping out bad bacteria in the mouth that can cause infection and also slow down the healing process of sores in the mouth, and saltwater greatly helps out here.
Mouth-guards are a Great Safety Net
For those of our readers who love to get into a bit of sport, it is a good idea and, in fact, recommended by a lot of expert orthodontists, like the team at Putney Dental, that you work to keep a bite or mouth guard in your mouth at all times during these games.
It isn’t a secret that your braces are a little fragile when it comes to getting hit with a football or basketball in the face, and so your mouth-guard is going to work wonders here when it comes to keeping your braces well-protected.
Consider Forgoing the Whitening
We all love a bright, white smile. Though when you have braces, it’s always a good idea to keep things a little toned down in the whitening department.
You might find that whitening over the top of your braces can cause some discolouration on the teeth, and this is going to cause a little bit of trouble when the braces come off and you have uneven-toned teeth.
Make Use of a Mouth Wash
As we mentioned above, gargling salt water helps to reduce pain and infection in the mouth when it comes to braces sores.
The same goes for mouth wash.
You should do your best to make use of a mouthwash to keep your breath fresh, but also to reduce your chances of bacteria build-up and slow healing of infections and other issues inside the mouth.
Adapt to Some Braces-friendly Meals
In line with running from hard and sticky food, you might also want to consider adding a few ingredients to your diet that help you live a little more comfortably with braces.
Consider foods such as soft cheeses, steamed vegetables, peanut butter as well as softer pieces of bread and pasta, for example. These foods are easy to eat, delicious and going to make life with braces a whole lot easier.
Work on Brushing and Flossing — Don’t Give Up!
A major tip here is that brushing and flossing when you have braces can be a little bit of a challenge in the first few weeks, and so you want to make sure you practice and get good at it.
You should work to brush after every meal as well as twice a day in the morning and night to keep your braces clean and floss at least once a day too.
Stay Calm About Loose-feeling Teeth
Our final tip is to keep your cool if things start to feel a little loose in the mouth.
As you know, your braces are working to move your teeth around, and of course, this means that your teeth will start to move and become a little more malleable-feeling. With that in mind, if you do feel your teeth a little loose or one tooth feeling a little wobbly, make sure that you keep your cool and don’t worry too much.
The teeth will begin to feel a little more sturdy in the weeks ahead when they begin to settle into their new position.
