Helping Your Child Maintain Healthy Teeth During Orthodontics

Orthodontics is an investment in your child’s oral health as straighter teeth are much easier to keep clean and of course a straight smile is much more appealing. Dr. Lustbader and all the dentists here at the Midtown Dental Group P.C. will work with you to help keep your child’s teeth healthy and disease-free during treatment. While removable braces can sometimes be used, fixed braces are still often a better choice due to the high degree of precision they can offer.

Additional Care Is Needed While Wearing Braces

Braces can be pretty complicated as they are carefully designed to precisely move teeth into predetermined positions, using a complex arrangement of brackets and wires. During this time it is important that additional care is taken during brushing and flossing. A quick look at any brace will show you it involves lots of very intricate nooks and crannies that are perfect for trapping plaque and food. This increases the risk of tooth decay and gum problems with braces.

Special attention is required to make sure there is no permanent damage to tooth enamel; early signs of erosion can leave unsightly white specks as the enamel loses vital minerals. There is also the possibility that gums may become inflamed and will show early signs of gingivitis, a disease that can be completely reversed with more vigilant tooth care.

Cleaning Teeth While Wearing a Brace

We will provide lots of advice to help your kid look after their teeth at this time, and they will probably need some special but inexpensive tools to help them clean their teeth more effectively. For example a soft toothbrush with a compact head will be able to fit in between the brackets and wires more easily and floss threaders can be helpful. It might be worth considering an electric or battery powered brush as these tend to have very small heads. Elastics should be removed prior to cleaning and replaced as recommended. Make sure they use fluoride toothpaste and it can be useful to provide a fluoride mouthwash for use after brushing, and which will help prevent tooth decay and white spots on the teeth during orthodontic care nyc.

Diet Makes a Difference

A diet that is high in acids will have a detrimental effect on teeth at any time, but in particular while wearing braces and when teeth are trickier to keep clean. In addition, your kid will need to avoid sticky or very crunchy or hard foods that could break or loosen wires or brackets. Of course some crunchy foods are good for dental health, including carrots and apples. These can still be enjoyed but need to be chopped into small pieces that are easy to chew. Oral habits such as nail biting or chewing on pencils can all damage braces so this might be a good time to try to break these habits.

If your kid breaks a wire or if a bracket falls off, then please save these pieces and make a dental appointment for kids nyc to have the brace mended as soon as you can. Delaying a repair can affect treatment and could increase the length of time the braces need to be worn.