5 tips to care your teeth after removing the dental brace
Dr. D.Sendhil Nathan MDS, DNB Prosthodontics And Implantology
Have you just finished your Orthodontic Treatment? Congratulations on your efforts you put all these days to get your desired smile. Now your teeth are straightened and your bite is aligned.
Do you know? The straightened teeth are vulnerable to move back to their original position. This will undo the result of your orthodontic treatment. Hence it is important to indulge in post-orthodontic dental care activities to maintain the alignment procured with dental braces.
1) Get Professional Teeth Cleaning
Cleaning the teeth while wearing orthodontic braces in quite difficult. You might experience the obstacles in cleaning and flossing during the orthodontic treatment. Right?
The stain causing agents take advantage of this situation and discolor the teeth. If you have worn the orthodontic appliance for a long time, then you had seen yellowish teeth after wearing off the braces.
It pushes people like you and others who had orthodontic treatment to get in-office dental cleaning to sparkle their aligned teeth.
You need to wait for at least 2 months to get such professional teeth cleaning after braces removal. This is because the dental braces carve the teeth enamel slightly and make the teeth sensitive for some days or weeks.
This is the reason why orthodontists recommend to get teeth cleaning after 2 months following the braces removal.
2) Cut down certain food items
As mentioned in the above section, teeth sensitivity occurs after removing the dental braces. Similarly, the teeth need to be adjusted to the new position. A strong bite on the teeth may end up in adverse effects.
Hence it is better to avoid hard, chewy and sticky food items. Likewise, don’t prefer food items at extremely hot or cold temperatures until the teeth sensitivity goes off.
3) Gum Recession and Jaw pain
As the dental braces are worn around the gum surfaces for a long time, it aggregates the gum tissues and pushes back the gum surfaces. It leads to gum recession and makes the teeth’s inner regions visible.
Sometimes, the pressure applied on the teeth with braces cause pain in the jaw and its surrounding muscles.
Here are the tips to avert such discomforts:
- Avoid hard and chewy food items
- Don’t clench or grind your teeth
- Prefer Toothbrush with soft bristles or electric toothbrush to clean your teeth
4) Wear Retainers
The pressure exerted on the teeth with braces pushes the teeth to a new position. As the teeth are anchored to our jaw bone, the bone on one side of the jaw begins to resorb or disappear when the tooth is moving.
Now the teeth are anchored with one side of the jaw bone. New bone on the other side of the teeth will grow naturally but it will take around a year to develop.
During this period, the chances are higher for the adjusted teeth to move back to their original position. The teeth become stringent when the new bone is developed but you need to apply pressure as the removed brace did on your teeth.
Hence Dentists suggest wearing the retainers for at least one year after removing the braces.
5) Don’t forget the teeth cleaning routine at home
Apart from making your straightened teeth shine and applying pressure with retainers, you should assure the aligned teeth are healthy. Dental hygiene routine is the only way to do that.
Nothing will help you to make your teeth healthy if you skip teeth cleaning routine like brushing twice a day, regular flossing, rinsing mouth after every meal and others.
Conclusion
Your aligned teeth do not stay straight for a long time unless you take care of it. The pressure applied and bacteria settled on the orthodontic appliance also cause various effects after the brace removal.
The mentioned tips will help you to prevent such issues and keep the aligned teeth in the adjusted positions for a long time more than you expect.
