Tips for Brushing Your Teeth

for Brushing Your Teeth; Follow these tips:

1. Brushing your teeth for at least two minutes. Be sure to get under the wires.
2. Thread the floss string and push it down under the wires between your brackets. Remember to floss every tooth, even the ones in the far back.
3. Gently clean between brackets (under the wires) with the wire brush to get all the plaque off.
4. Use mouthwash to clean your mouth, it will give you nice breath!
5. Stick to foods that require little to no chewing once you first get braces: applesauce, mashed potatoes, soup. Persuade someone to take you out for milkshakes.

Also, stay away from foods such as carrots as the pieces get stuck behind the wire and are a pain to get out.

Warnings for Brushing Your Teeth

Pay attention to these warnings:

• Don’t eat hard foods like hard taco shells, ice, nuts, Jolly Ranchers, bagels, chips, and apples and carrots unless cut into tiny bite size pieces.
• If you do not clean your teeth well enough, you may have squares on your teeth where your braces were so brush well!
• Be sure to stick to the diet your orthodontist recommends at first. Eventually, you will be able to break the rules every once in a while.
• Always wear the retainer that the orthodontist gives you when you get you braces off. If you don’t, your teeth will move and you might have to get braces again as an adult.
• If you eat really chewy foods & candies, they may get stuck underneath your braces, causing brown squares to be where the braces once were.