Few things are that scary than having a toothache. When pain strikes, patients experience almost unbearable pain. Also, the costs of emergency treatment for an advanced cavity are also pocket painful.
But, is all of these something we can avoid? The answer is “yes.” You can prevent tooth decay by practicing good oral hygiene habits. And maybe you have already read about it, but, What are the steps for good oral hygiene? Here we show you a short list to keep your teeth clean:
Brush Your Teeth
You might have heard it many times. Regular Brushing is the best thing you can do to avoid tooth decay, but when? And how often? You must brush your teeth at least twice daily and preferably after meals.
You might also want to pay attention to the state of your brush. Brushes catch bacteria, and the bristles might lose effectiveness over time, so we recommend changing your brush every two to three months.
Floss Your Teeth
There is a little controversy on whether brushing or flossing is more important. So we won’t address the problem. However, we might say traditional flossing is almost as important as brushing because there are unseeable particles that stay between teeth and might cause plaque to form.
Visit Your Dentist Twice a Day
Better safe than sorry. This is true when it comes to dental health. Dental treatment is more manageable when identified on time. Also, early treatment might save a patient expensive reparatory treatments.
These are essential things to follow to avoid tooth decay. But what would happen if my dentist referred me to an orthodontist and, after an evaluation, she says I have to start wearing braces?
In that case, you must consider extreme measures to have healthy teeth and avoid tooth decay. This article encompasses a good deal of these measures, including using water irrigators to enhance oral hygiene during orthodontic treatment with braces.
How To Keep Good Dental Hygiene With Braces?
Having dental braces means there are extra spots and entrenched areas where food particles might get stuck or stay invisible, making them hard to remove with mechanic movements like brushing or regular flossing, meaning you must readapt your oral care routine.
Fortunately, you can find various oral health utensils that are practical for eliminating molesting food residues and are safe to use during orthodontic treatment; here we describe some of them:
Self-Threading Flosser
Using a conventional flosser while wearing braces is worthless because you can’t insert it between teeth and the space between braces and gums.
Failing to clean this area might produce food accumulation near the gums, favoring dental plaque formation that could end in gum disease.
However, as its name implies, self-threading flossers include a hard head in the extreme of the thread you can insert between teeth, making flossing near the gums possible.
Interdental Flossers
A self-threading flosser is a great option to enhance oral hygiene, even without wearing braces. In addition, though, interdental flossers might have an extra detail that makes them even more efficient at cleaning.
Interdental flossers are stick-like utensils you can easily maneuver with your thumb and index fingers to insert them between the teeth. These little helpers have this extra additament, lateral bristles (interdental brushes) that sweep food particles and debris.
Water Irrigators
Braces patients might hardly feel their teeth are 100% clean; there are moments that, even after flossing with special tools, they might pass their tongue on teeth and feel there is something else they couldn’t remove.
Here, you can perfect your oral hygiene routine using a water oral irrigator that sprays pressurized water directed to the identified area where you have bothering food debris trapped in tight spaces, unclogging the area.
What Is a Water Irrigator?
A water irrigator is a pulsing device that sprays pressurized water directed to the area where the patient finds the need to focalize clean-up or hard-to-reach areas with other flossers. Patients might also use a water irrigator directing the water spray to all reachable spots in their teeth and gums. Water irrigators have several advantages when it comes to oral hygiene:
- Removes micro traces of food between teeth and braces (unseen);
- It helps minimize the accumulation of debris near the gum pockets;
- It serves like a washer that breaks formed bacteria colonies;
- Its pulsing water flow stimulates circulation making the gum tissue firmer and;
- Dentists recommend its use when a patient’s gum sensitivity increases in controllable gum disease cases.
We can’t define a con of water flossing. However, patients need to know a water irrigator serves a function that is to work as a complementary tool for brushing and flossing.
This means you shouldn’t replace flossing with a traditional, self-threading, or interdental flosser with a water irrigator.
Also, there is a selection of Water Irrigators in the market you can choose from. However, the public selected one product that makes a difference as the best option for patients with braces.
What is WaterPik?
Waterpik is a brand that offers several Water irrigator options. The most plausible of all is the Aquarius model, with a high star review among people with braces. This cleaning device has different pressure settings, including an operating mode for braces.
How To Use a Waterpik?
Using a Waterpik is simple. However, we recommend patients follow the manufacturer’s instructions. Though in general terms, using a Waterpik requires following these three steps:
- Fill the tank with lukewarm water;
- Click the tip that is on the handle;
- Approach the sink placing the tip directed to your mouth and;
- Turn on the device, pointing it to the gumline letting the stream of water do the job.
At Estes Orthodontics, We Love Having Happy and Healthy Smiles for Our Patients.
A healthy and beautiful smile makes patients happy, and so we are. This is what drives our work. So, visit us or schedule a visit and start the journey to a happy smile.
