If you have just had orthodontics fitted and are hoping to end up with perfectly straight, healthy teeth a few months from now, there are a few 'rules' you should abide by. Read on to find out what these are.
Never skip an orthodontic appointment
It is absolutely essential to attend your orthodontic appointments every four to six weeks. Failing to do so could affect the end results of your treatment.
These appointments will allow your orthodontist to tighten and adjust your braces. If you do not have your braces tightened frequently enough during the course of your treatment, the wires will eventually become loose and stop pushing your teeth into their correct (i.e. straight) positions.
During each appointment, your orthodontist will also check the overall condition of your teeth and oral tissues, to ensure that you are not at risk of tooth decay or gum disease (wearing braces can increase your chances of developing dental health conditions, as the brackets and wires often make it much harder to remove harmful plaque from your teeth).
If they discover decay or gum inflammation, they may then offer you expert advice or special dental products to prevent your dental issues from worsening.
Be careful about what you eat
The foods you eat whilst wearing braces can affect the progress and results of your orthodontic treatment.
Extremely crunchy, hard or chewy foods, for example (like raw carrots, toffees and popcorn) can damage the wires of your braces. If you fail to notice this damage and have it repaired promptly, it could lead to the teeth in the area of your mouth where the broken wire is located failing to move into their correct positions.
Consuming sugary foods whilst wearing braces can also leave you with permanent stains when you eventually have your orthodontics removed.
This is because it is not always possible to completely wash away food particles from teeth that are covered in brackets and wires. If the food particles contain sugar (which bacterial plaque thrive on), the plaque will eat these particles and then produce acid that will erode the enamel. This, in turn, will expose the yellowish dentin layer that lies underneath the enamel.
These yellowish patches cannot be removed with whitening treatments; the only solution is to mask them with veneers or crowns, both of which can be quite costly and time-consuming to fit.
As such, it is best to avoid sugar-rich foods entirely whilst wearing braces, if you don't want to find yourself with straight, but badly-stained teeth at the end of your treatment.
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