Many people head to orthodontist Chelmsford wanting straight teeth. Teeth braces are such a huge investment that you should be doing all you can to maintain them when you have your treatment.  More often than not, people who have braces have better oral health because orthodontic treatment requires a lot more care and attention. With this, you have to be constantly keeping your mouth clean. Keep reading to find out some more about cleaning braces.

Electric toothbrush

If you’ve not been as lucky to get invisible braces from a fabulous dental provider like Straight My Teeth, then you’ll sadly have to keep up with your brace maintenance a lot more. More often, people opt for clear braces because they are entirely removable and can be cleaned very easily. However, when it comes to having the infamous metal braces that are permanently glued onto your teeth for the entire duration of your treatment, then you must do all you can to keep them clean.

We recommend purchasing an electric toothbrush to keep your teeth clean and healthy. At the best of times, a manual toothbrush will not clean all the bacteria from our mouths. As well as this, when we have braces, we are at more risk of dealing with plaque and bacteria build-up which is very bad for our teeth and gums. Too much plaque can often lead to cavities, receding gums and enamel erosion. To prevent this, an electric toothbrush will keep your gums and teeth as clean as possible and also reach the crevices that a manual toothbrush can’t.

High fluoride toothpaste

All too often, we head to the supermarket and purchase the toothpaste on offer. Whilst this is okay most of the time, sometimes the toothpaste can consist of a low fluoride content. This is very bad for our teeth as fluoride is what helps harden the surfaces of our teeth. Too much sugar – or any sugar that is not consumed in moderation – can lead to enamel erosion. Toothpaste with an optimum fluoride content (1350 -1500 ppm) can help protect the enamel we have left protecting our teeth from cavities. But a toothpaste with a very high fluoride concentration may lead to fluorosis. This is a cosmetic condition that impacts the appearance of your teeth.

When brushing your teeth, we recommend that you brush your teeth thirty minutes after you eat and thirty minutes before you eat or drink. We say this because we need to give fluoride enough time to work on our teeth before we wash it away. Moreover, many people make the mistake of rinsing with water or mouthwash after they brush. But they shouldn’t! You want to keep the fluoride toothpaste on the teeth for as long as possible. What’s the point in putting on a facemask to wash it off a few seconds later?

Final thoughts

An electric toothbrush and a high fluoride toothpaste are the bare minimum when looking to maintain your oral health with braces. If you buy these products, do some more research into other possibilities too such as mouthwash and interdental sticks. Follow our tips if you want to get the most out of your treatment plan!