Many patients at York Orthodontics are eager to achieve a perfect smile and get their braces taken off. Our patients often ask what they can do to ensure their estimated treatment time stays on track. Delays can be very disappointing and discouraging throughout treatment. However, a patient has lots of control when it comes to keeping their estimated treatment time on the right track.
Below, we have listed some common ways to avoid delayed treatment time.
Orthodontic Treatment: Maintain Adjustment Appointments
Orthodontic treatment is a process organized by specific appointments to move your teeth in a certain timeframe. Missing your scheduled appointments can postpone the estimated treatment time despite our best efforts. If you are unsure if you can make it to your appointment, please contact our office so we can accommodate the changes to your schedule.
Orthodontic Treatment: Schedule Repair Appointments
If you are experiencing any problems with your appliances, like a broken bracket or poking wire, contact our office to schedule a repair appointment instead of waiting for your next visit. Broken appliances are common, however, they must be addressed to avoid a lengthened treatment time. Avoid certain foods, such as sticky or hard foods, because they can cause problems with broken appliances as well.
Well-Maintain your Braces.
When it comes to caring for your braces, keep in mind that each treatment approach has somewhat different instructions and things need to be taken into account. Traditional metal braces, lingual braces, or ceramics are all the same because they all use a bracket system attached to your teeth. Therefore, the instructions you should follow are quite similar.
Food particles might get caught in wires and brackets. They also have some food restrictions because they are not unbeatable materials.
For the sake of your oral health and the longevity of your braces, you should avoid hard foods, sticky foods, and foods with high sugar content.
Well-maintaining your braces means cleaning them immediately after each meal, using a proxy brush and brushing them thoroughly, and ultimately, don’t forget to floss them with a floss threaders.
By just following these simple tips, you can easily avoid the most common orthodontic emergencies.
Orthodontic Treatment: Foods to Avoid While Wearing Braces
As we mentioned above, if you want to stay away from breaking braces and wires, you need to avoid hard, crunchy, chewy, and sticky foods.
Here are the types of foods that are on our list:
- Nuts,
- Hard crackers or cookies,
- Taffy,
- Popcorn,
- Bagels
- Raw vegetables,
- Caramel,
- Potato chips,
- Bubble gum,
- French bread,
- Foods that need to bite into, like apple or corn
Foods you can eat during the first week while you are wearing braces or clear aligners
To avoid any discomfort, stick hardly to soft meals. Also, you should keep away from any foods or beverages that are extremely hot or cold, because they result in irritable tooth sensitivity.
Here are some recommended foods for the early stage of treatment:
- Smoothies,
- Greek yogurt,
- Mashed potatoes,
- Scrambled eggs,
- Oatmeal,
- Pancake.
Maintain Good Oral Hygiene
Excellent oral hygiene is essential during orthodontic treatment, as are regular visits to your family dentist. Braces trap food and allow plaque to build up around your appliances. Brushing multiple times a day and flossing are extremely important. Brushing cannot allow sugar to wear away the cement on your appliances, making them less effective. Not maintaining adequate oral hygiene can also result in cavities or periodontal disease. Orthodontic tooth movement may aggravate this condition and possibly result in postponed treatment.
Orthodontic Treatment: Steps to Avoid Tooth Decay While Wearing Braces
Use a Specialized Toothbrush
When you have braces, a regular toothbrush will not suffice. You should also use an interdental toothbrush to effectively clean behind the braces. This brush has bristles in the shape of a Christmas tree and can remove food residue from braces and teeth.
We also recommend using a WaterPik, which has highly pressurized pulsating water, to get into those difficult-to-reach places.
Brush Your Teeth After Each Meal
You must take the time to brush and floss your teeth after every meal since braces prevent food from breaking out of your teeth after eating. The less time food spends on your teeth, the less likely decay will occur. It can seem like a hassle now, but once your braces come off, you’ll be so glad you made the effort to brush your teeth after each meal.
Don’t Forget to Rinse Your Mouth
No matter how carefully you brush and floss, there are likely some food crumbs left in your braces.
The easiest technique is to use a fluoride mouthwash after each meal to get rid of every food particles. If you don’t have access to the mouthwash, we recommend using water instead.
Stay Away Sweets
When it comes to preventing tooth decay, prevention is unquestionably the best medicine.
We guarantee that if you can avoid decay-causing sugary meals from the start, you’ll spend less time trying to fix issues down the road.
Wearing Prescribed Elastics
Patient cooperation is crucial in this part of your treatment plan. If Dr. Mir provides you with instructions to wear elastics, it is very important you wear them as instructed to avoid delays in your treatment. If you go to the doctor and are prescribed medication, you will take it as directed, correct? The same applies to orthodontic elastics. Avoiding wearing your elastics can delay and possibly hinder the outcome you are looking for.
Well-Adhere to Dr. Mir’s Recommended Guidelines.
It is imperative to listen carefully and follow all the advice of Dr. Mir.
General advice for those patients who wear traditional braces is to adhere to their diet. Patients who wear clear plastic aligner trays should wear them for at least a particular number of hours each day.
Notice that patients who choose the latter option have a little more freedom to temporarily remove the devices.
Practice Patience
It seems reasonable that individuals would desire to expedite their orthodontic treatment to achieve the smile of their dreams.
The most notable feature here is to be patient and realize that if you accomplish all the things that are expected of you, you will definitely get the result you’re always looking for.
And Finally
A great outcome in orthodontic treatment is a joint effort. Dr. Mir and the staff at York Orthodontics intend to do everything possible to achieve the best results for every patient. With patient cooperation heavily impacting the results of treatment, we must work together to achieve the beautiful smile you deserve!
Contact York Orthodontics if you need orthodontic consultation, orthodontic treatment, or have general questions.
