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If you have braces, you may find it difficult to keep your teeth clean. Because braces fit snugly against your teeth and wires inhibit the spaces between them, it can be a little more difficult to brush and floss.
It’s important to learn the best ways to brush and how to floss with braces because poor dental cleaning can lead to oral health problems such as bad breath, bleeding gums, gum disease, cavities, and teeth staining.
Importance of learning tips to brush and how to floss with braces
While braces will benefit your long-term oral health and confidence, without proper care, your braces can affect your oral health by disrupting your regular brushing and cleaning routines.
Hidden pockets behind and around the wires and brackets trap food and allow sugars to settle on your teeth. When food remains on teeth, bacteria forms and feeds on the sugars and producing acids. Acids, sugars, food particles and saliva combine, forming plaque that coats teeth. Over time, this sticky substance erodes the enamel, which causes cavities.
Learning a positive, braces-friendly oral care routine can help prevent this from happening; meaning you can enjoy your new confident smile without the worries of cavities.
How to brush your teeth with braces
While it can take a little more time, or be a bit finicky, adjusting your teeth brushing routine to your braces is essential.
Rinse your mouth with water
Thoroughly rinsing your mouth after meals and snacks with water can help by reducing large food particles that may be lodged between your teeth and braces. It can also help to moisten your mouth, allowing your recommended toothpaste to work more effectively.
Use a recommended toothpaste
Your dental care expert may recommend a change of toothpaste while wearing braces and it’s important you stick to it. For best results, use toothpaste that contains fluoride (a substance naturally found in both our teeth and bones), as it will help to protect the enamel of your teeth. Sometimes a higher fluoridated toothpaste may be recommended such as Colgate Neutralfuor 5000 Toothpaste – these help to offer more tooth protection than an standard, everyday toothpaste. If you’d like a hand finding the right toothpaste, we can help you choose.
Brush at a 45-degree angle
Hold your toothbrush at a 45-degree angle. Then, use a small circular motion to gently brush along the gumline. This angle will help the bristles of your toothbrush to reach the tops of each bracket without harming your gums.
Repeat this step for about 10 seconds for each tooth, making your way around your mouth for both your upper and lower jaw.
Be sure to get both the top and bottom of the brackets, and to remember the back of your teeth as well.
Rinse your mouth with recommended mouthwash
Once you’ve finished brushing, use a recommended mouthwash to help reduce the bacteria in your mouth surrounding your teeth, which reduces the amount of dental plaque that forms. An everyday mouthwash containing fluoride such as Colgate Neutrafluor 220 helps protect the teeth and prevent decay.
How to floss with braces
Learning how to floss with braces is equally as important as learning how to brush. That’s because flossing removes food and plaque trapped between your teeth in spaces that regular brushing struggles to reach. However, with braces, it can be hard to floss normally because the wires can restrict access.
But, while flossing with braces can seem like a difficult task, it can be easy. Here are the steps to floss properly with braces:
1. Choose a floss and wrap it around your index fingers for a strong grip
Using dental floss, tape or ribbon recommended for positive oral care, trim about 20cm and wrap it around each index finger for a strong and steady grip. Alternatively, using a Floss Threader can help direct the floss between your teeth and orthodontic wire more effectively.
2. Carefully begin flossing gaps
Line the floss up with the gap between your teeth and the wire of your braces then carefully floss vertically along the sides of each tooth, removing any loose food particles and plaque build-up.
3. Shift the floss so that you don’t reuse sections
After flossing each space, move the used piece of floss along by curling it around your index finger so that you don’t reuse the same section twice. This will help in avoiding putting germs back into your mouth.
4. Repeat steps 1 to 3
Repeat steps two and three by moving on to each next tooth until you have flossed all gaps in your mouth.
Using traditional floss is a proven way to improve your oral health and keep your mouth clean. However, it can be time-consuming and a little trickier once you’ve had braces fixed.
If you’re unsure whether you’re giving your teeth the attention they need, you can try alternate products that make it easier to floss with braces.
Easy ways to floss with braces
Using traditional floss is a proven way to improve your oral health and keep your mouth clean. However, it can be time-consuming and a little trickier once you’ve had braces fixed.
If you’re unsure whether you’re giving your teeth the attention they need, you can try alternate products that make it easier to floss with braces.
Water Flossers
Water flossers are handy devices that can target a firm, narrow stream of water. This stream can work similarly to regular dental floss by dislodging food particles and plaque from between teeth. They can be a handy alternative to regular dental floss if you have trouble using it, or for when you have braces as you don’t need to work around the wires and brackets as carefully.
But are water flossers as effective as dental floss when you have braces? Studies say so!
To get the same results as regular dental floss with a water flosser, dentists recommend pulsing water directly into those hard-to-reach areas of the mouth that brushing alone cannot clean. When you have braces, make sure you use your water flosser to target the wires and brackets as well.
Interdental Brushes
Interdental brushes are specially designed to easily maneuver through the intricate spaces between teeth that can be difficult to clean with a standard toothbrush and dental floss. Similarly, they are ideal for accessing hard-to-reach areas beneath and around braces with research suggesting their effectiveness.
Because each person’s orthodontics is unique, it’s sometimes necessary to use more than one size of interdental brush to reach all areas of the mouth.
Floss Threaders
Floss Threaders are firm, thin threaders which allow you to direct floss easily between each tooth when you have wires. Trying to floss without a Floss Threader whilst you have braces can be a real challenge and floss threaders help make this easier.
Dental products for cleaning your teeth with braces
Keeping your teeth clean with braces may be a little trickier than when you didn’t have them, but the long-term benefits of having your braces in will outweigh the temporary inconvenience.
At House of Mouth™, our top priority is oral health and hygiene. Our large range of oral care products can help you keep your gums and teeth healthy when keeping your smile in check with braces.
Our range of mouth care covers every need and all users—from kids going through with braces for the first time all the way to adults getting adjustments done to keep their smiles perfect.
So whether you’re looking for flexible floss threads that let you wrap them around each bracket individually, interdental brushes that fit into all different sizes, crevices and awkward angles, or water flossers to help stream food particles and plaque away, House of Mouth™ has all your needs covered so you can maintain a healthy mouth no matter how difficult it looks.
Browse orthodontics and braces products online or talk to our staff for help in choosing the right product for your mouth.
Best Brush and Floss Products for Braces
Best Water Flosser for Braces
Philips Sonicare Power Flosser 3000
Effortlessly thorough cleaning between teeth, around wires, brackets and orthodontic appliances and help improve your gum health. Removes up to 99.9% of plaque in treated areas and a thorough 360° clean in just 60 seconds from start to finish.
Best Floss For Braces
X-Floss Lite is a superior dental floss with a thick, bulky texture complete with a firm nylon threader. X-Floss unique woolly floss design was specifically invented for implants, bridges, wide spaces and braces. The spongy and flexible floss contracts and expands for easy reaching in those hard to get into places and already has an attached floss threader – so you can finally say goodbye to the threading of floss!
Best Interdental Brushes for Braces
Piksters are Australia’s No. 1 reusable interdental brush and are made of stronger, stiffer wire which resists buckling. Piksters are like mini toothbrushes that get into the tiny spaces between teeth and clean effectively right down to the gum line. Available in 11 Sizes 00-9 you will be sure to find a size to suit your individual needs. Not sure of the correct size, start with a trial pack to get started and find the right size for your teeth.
Best Toothbrush for Braces
Colgate Slim Soft Ortho Toothbrush
The Slim Soft Ortho toothbrush features floss-tip bristles that are 17x slimmer at the tip and are ideal for cleaning the tight spaces between teeth, gums, orthodontic wires and brackets.
Ready to start or rejig your braces and orthodontic oral care regime? Have your questions answered and discuss your options with a Dental Professional. Contact Us today. We’re here to help!
(07) 55 34 8603
