Care for Braces

Keeping your Teeth Clean

How to Brush your Teeth with Braces

Use a toothbrush with soft bristles and a small strip of fluoride toothpaste. Brushing properly should take several minutes.

We recommend you brush your teeth four times daily to avoid the accumulation of food particles in your teeth and braces: In the morning after breakfast, after lunch or right after school, after supper, and at bedtime.

1. Move the brush in small, circular motions to reach food particles that may be under your gum line.

2. Hold the toothbrush at an angle and brush slowly and carefully, covering all areas between teeth, between braces and the surface of each tooth.

3. Brush up on the lower teeth, down on the upper teeth and the outside, inside and chewing surface of your front and back teeth.

4. Brush your tongue and the roof of your mouth before you rinse.

How to Floss your Teeth with Braces

Flossing is important to do every day and will take more time and patience when you are wearing braces. When you first begin flossing around your braces, your gums may bleed a little but over time will stop. Floss your teeth before bedtime so your teeth are clean while you sleep.

We recommend Oral B Super Floss along with the reusable threader we provided you.

Pull a small length of floss from the dispenser through the threader and slide it up and down along the front of each tooth unit you hear the squeak of the floss against your clean teeth.
Use care around your archwire and do not floss too forcefully around it or put too much pressure on it
After you floss between your archwire and braces, floss between your other teeth and gums.

If you are flossing without the floss threader, pull a small length of floss from the dispenser. You’ll need to use Super Floss to be able to get under your wire.

Wrap the ends of the floss tightly around your middle fingers.
Guide the floss between all teeth to the gum line, pulling out food particles or plaque.
Unwrap clean floss from around your fingers as you go, so that you have used the floss from beginning to end when you finish.
Floss behind all of your back teeth.