How to Maintain a Whiter Teeth While Wearing Braces

Smiles are the best accessory a person could ever have. Drop those expensive ornaments or makeup on your face because your genuine smile is enough.  However, not everyone was born with perfectly formed teeth. This causes low self-esteem, shyness, and lack of confidence. Especially to children who are starting to encounter these traumatic experiences because their teeth have problems. Good thing a dentist who has a specialty in correcting teeth formation in the gum line and other teeth problem is easy to find in any dental clinics nowadays.

Braces Are Good with Whiter Teeth

Orthodontic treatment is being given to both adults and kids who are starting to have their permanent teeth. By the time a child reaches the age of 7 that is where their family dentist normally advises parents to bring them to a dental check-up to determine if they have overcrowding teeth or an uneven bite. An orthodontist is the one who decides whether the patient needs to wear braces or just retainers for a couple of months. But in most cases, the patient will end up wearing braces because the symptoms will develop if it will not be treated now.

Other cases that will require you to wear braces are:

  • Crossbite – where your upper tooth line is behind your lower tooth line.
  • Underbite – your entire upper front teeth are dropping behind your lower front teeth area.
  • Openbite – this is a case where both your front teeth are imbalanced.

It is very important that these oral cases are to be addressed or treated immediately to avoid further damage to your facial structure or to your entire teeth frame and bones. The other downside of not being able to get the appropriate dental treatments are bad breath, tooth decay, gum disease, future health issues or oral pain, tooth fracture and injury, tooth trauma, gum recession or gum fracture, difficulty in chewing and biting, and speech defects.

Now that you’ve got your braces installed, your next worry is how to keep or maintain a whiter tooth. Surely, wearing braces at first is not at all that comfortable, especially if there is an ongoing teeth re-alignment that is happening inside your mouth. The pain and discomfort will always be there while your braces are doing its job. Eventually, you’ll get used to it, but what you should never get used to is not cleaning your teeth and braces well enough. It is at this point that you have to keep teeth clean every single day.  Sad to say, but you should be avoiding whitening products while you have those wires in your mouth. Discoloration is one of the evident problems patients with braces encounter over time.

Tips for Keeping Them Whiter

Dentists know your struggles and have come up with tips in order to keep your teeth whiter while on your orthodontic treatment journey.

  1. Take Oral Hygiene Seriously: Make the “3 times a day” brushing habit your mantra while wearing braces. Keep your mouthwash routine 1st thing in the morning and before you head off to dreamland at night. Make use of a dental floss at least once a day. This practice will get rid of oral stains and will make your teeth whiter.
  2. Brush Teeth Individually: In regular brushing, you tend to miss a spot on your teeth, what more now that your teeth are covered up. If you wanted to have whiter teeth, invest a little bit of your time to brush your teeth one after the other. This method will enable you to clean in between your teeth and your brace wires.
  3. Electric Toothbrush: This is advisable for people with and without braces. Using this will make brushing easier and it can effectively clean the wires and brackets. It is believed that this mechanical toothbrush can efficiently brush off tartar, break plaques and stains.
  4. The After Meal Routine: This is not just a dentist advise, but you have heard this from your mom since you were a kid to always brush your teeth after every meal. Now that you are wearing braces the more you should follow it. This is to flush out any leftovers on your teeth and braces, but if you can’t do the brushing then rinse your teeth with water or a mouthwash so do always keep one handy.

What You Should Avoid

  1. Stay away from foods that trigger stains: coffee, black tea, red wine, dark-colored juices and sodas, and dark colored fruits. Instead, eat foods that will help you clean your teeth like crispy food, celery, apples, pear, raw carrots and even popcorn.
  2. Avoid The Sweet Stuff: candy, chocolates and other pastries that are loaded with sugar. Aside from the fact that they promote tooth decay and discoloration, they easily stick in your brackets, making it hard to remove with just water. You have to really brush them off.
  3. Say NO to Cigarettes: smoking does not only cause discoloration and tooth decay but is also bad for your health in general. So no further argument about that.

So if you are someone who is wearing braces or is advised to wear one or is planning to undergo an orthodontic treatment, may these pointers guide you well. Especially for kids, make sure to have a regular checkup at your children’s dentist clinic to be well guided about taking care of your braces properly. The goal here is to bring back your confident smile so everything else will follow.

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