7 July 2020
Braces – Dr. Vishal Sharma shows us the importance of brushing with braces and flossing properly. Proper dental hygiene during and after your treatment is very important for the long-term health of your teeth and gums. https://www.auraortho.com/
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Transcript:
Hi, I’m Dr. Vishal Sharma from Aura Orthodontics.
Next, we’re going to talk about oral hygiene, which in my opinion is the most important video we will shoot.
In other words, how to keep your teeth and your braces clean during your treatment.
So stick around we’ll be back in a second.
Let’s talk about why it’s important to keep your teeth clean during your treatment.
Wires and brackets can create a food trap every time you eat.
If you don’t clear this debris away, this debris can cause a lot of damage to your teeth.
And drastic effects such as this, this, and even this.
Theses are problems you want to avoid.
At the time of removal of braces
if you haven’t done a good job of keeping your teeth clean you’ll notice you get white spots.
It’s absolutely mandatory that you brush and floss properly to avoid these problems.
With braces you should be sure to brush when you wake up in the morning, before you go to bed, and most importantly after every meal.
It is very important that you cover all surfaces of the teeth.
The biting surfaces, back and front.
The inside surfaces.
In the front you want to go up and down.
And most importantly the front side.
First, point the toothbrush up towards the gum.
Secondly, very lightly tease the bristles of the toothbrush between the wire and the braces.
Very gently wiggle back and forth until each area is clean.
Repeat this procedure for all braces making sure to remove any debris from the tooth surfaces.
Next, very lightly brush near the gum line of all teeth to ensure that your gums are healthy.
Now lets address some common questions that people have about brushing.
What is the best way to hold your toothbrush?
There are several ways to hold a tooth brush.
Some people prefer a fist grip, some people prefer a pen grip, and some people prefer a fork grip. The most important part is that you choose something that is most comfortable for you.
How much toothpaste should I use?
This is dependant on age. For a child less than 13-years old you want to be sure to use a pea sized amount.
Too much toothpaste is not good.
For a patient above 13-years old you can use a little bit more than that.
How long should I brush for?
This is probably the most common question.
Anywhere from one minute and a half to two minutes.
Anything less then that will make sure that you’re not cleaning all the surfaces of your teeth.
How do I clean my toothbrush?
After each brushing session, it’s important to clean your toothbrush away.
The easiest way to clean is just with simple water.
Run water over your brush and make sure you remove all the extra tooth paste that may be on there with your fingers.
This makes sure your tooth brush is clean the next time you have to use it.
First, lets discuss how to hold floss properly.
You want to make sure you break a piece of floss off that is about 40-45 cm long.
Long enough so that you can wrap it around your fingers comfortably.
Next, wrap it around your index finger tightly.
Stretch the piece out and wrap it around your other index finger tightly.
Now it’s nice and tight.
If you have braces, flossing is a little bit more difficult.
It’s difficult because it’s hard to thread the floss through the braces and the wire.
At your local drug store you can get what is called a floss threader.
This makes much easier to thread the floss through the wire.
A floss threader is a piece of floss with a course tip attached to it.
This makes it much easier to floss the thread through the wire.
Next, you take the course tip and simply slide it underneath the wire.
Pull the remaining of the floss through, so that you have equal ends on both sides.
Simply slide the floss in-between the teeth, push against the side of one tooth and slide the floss up and down.
Make sure you go under your gum line. Not too far but just enough to remove debris.
Once you get used to flossing you will know how far below the gum line you can actually go.
Repeat for the other too and move on to the next area.
If you haven’t been flossing regularly the technique will take some time to learn.
You may also experience some bleeding, this is a sign of unhealthy gums.
If you floss regularly, once a day, you will notice that this bleeding will subside after 3-4 days.
This is a good sign, make sure you don’t give up.