Orthodontia Tips

Brushing your teeth properly during the orthodontics treatment is crucial to maintain the oral health. The orthodontic braces accumulate residual food and make the brushing procedure take longer than usual. Therefore it is important to understand the correct brushing technique:

- Change your toothbrush frequently. The lifetime of a toothbrush used in orthodontic treatments is shorter.


- Avoid tough or crunchy food such as popcorn, peanuts, nuts, fruits with seeds/pit, ice, etc as well as sticky foods like bubblegum and caramels. Avoid candy, cookies, jelly beans, and chocolate as they have high risk of generating cavities. Try to cut in pieces: fruits, raw vegetables, and meat before eating to reduce the pressure on the braces when chewing them.


- Watch out for bad habits such as biting nails, chewing pens, and using the tongue to remove the elastic rubbers from the braces.


- Get in contact with the clinic as soon as you realize there is a discomfort with you braces.


- Avoid getting late or missing an orthodontic’s appointment. The time needed between one brace’s activation and another must be respected to avoid surpassing the expected treatment schedule. It is also important to avoid damages to your mouth, teeth, gums and bones health.


- For those who wear removable braces, make sure to wear them on the recommended timeframes so that we can see some results. Always keep them clean, using a toothbrush and, once a week, put it immersed in water with a sodium hypochlorite (1 small tea spoon) for 30 minutes in order to avoid the proliferation of bacteria and fungus. After 30 minutes, rinse it in water and keep it in a dry clean box.


- Headaches, auricular noises, and buzzing in the ears might be related with malocclusion problems. A proper orthodontic treatment may provide you not only a beautiful smile, but also health, balance and a correct chewing functionality.