Orthodontics 101 - Braces and You

Soreness

When you first start orthodontic treatment, you may feel a generalized soreness and teeth may be tender to biting pressures for a few days. If the tenderness is severe, you may take aspirin, Tylenol, ibuprofen, or whatever you normally take for a headache. The lips, cheeks, and tongue may also become irritated as they toughen and become accustomed to the surface of the braces. Wax judiciously placed on the braces can help. Our team will discuss this in detail and demonstrate.

Eating with Braces

It’s really just common sense. These beauties are not meant to stay on your teeth forever, so please do not chew or bite into items that test them. For the first day or so, stick to soft foods. For the long term, please avoid tough meats, hard breads, and raw uncut vegetables. You will need to protect your orthodontic appliances when you eat for as long as you're wearing braces.

Please avoid:

• Chewy foods: bagels, hard rolls, licorice
• Crunchy foods: popcorn, ice, chips
• Sticky foods: caramels, gum
• Hard foods: nuts, candy
• Foods you have to bite into: corn on the cob, apples, carrots
• Chewing on hard things (for example, pens, pencils, or fingernails) can damage the braces. Damaged braces will cause treatment to take longer.

Slight Loosening of Teeth

Please do not worry! This is normal and is to be expected throughout treatment. Teeth must loosen first before they can be moved and the teeth will become rigid once more in their new positions. Should any question arise in this regard, please do not hesitate to call our office for a consult.

Care of Appliances

Orthodontic treatment requires a team approach in order to achieve our treatment objectives. This requires that the patient must work together with the orthodontist. The teeth and jaws can only move toward their corrected positions if the patient consistently follows recommendations and wears the rubber bands, headgear, or other appliances as prescribed. In addition, repeatedly damaged appliances lengthen the treatment time.

Brushing

Although braces pose an additional challenge, it is of the utmost importance to brush and floss regularly when you are undergoing orthodontic treatment. Our goal is to maintain healthy teeth and gums throughout orthodontic treatment. Patients will require more frequent visits to the dentist or periodontist for a professional cleaning.