Spring is here and now is a great time to prepare for the summer, especially since life is resuming back to normal! With a busy schedule during the summer, such as graduations, camp, summer school, vacations, going outdoors, it is easy to forget about the importance of taking care of your braces. But remember, the better you take care of them, the quicker it will be to get them off. Then you will have beautiful, perfect teeth for those summer family reunion photos!
Brush
Food can easily get trapped in your braces. This is why it is important to remember to not just brush your teeth twice a day but brush thoroughly for two minutes. This will ensure you get trapped food out. When food is trapped in braces and not removed on time, this can cause cavities. When cavities happen with braces, it can delay treatment even longer. In the spring and summer, having to make an extra dentist appointment to get a cavity filled can be inconvenient with everything else that is going on in life. Therefore, it is important to just avoid this at all costs and maintain the healthy habit of thoroughly brushing your teeth twice a day!
Floss & Waterpik
Flossing before brushing your teeth is important in general, but especially important with braces. This will also help ensure you get trapped food in between your teeth, gums, and braces out. Make sure to brush at least once a day at night. But sometimes, not even floss can get pesky food trapped in your braces out. This is why we recommend investing in a Waterpik! A Waterpik is a water flosser that you can use after regularly flossing and helps get those stubborn pieces of food out of your braces. Running water in your mouth is also a good way to remove bacteria from your mouth, keep a healthy mouth, and fresh smelling breath. You don’t want trapped food in your braces to show in the yearbook, school dances, and summer pictures!
Mouthwash
With quarantine, it was easy to fall out of proper hygiene habits, especially if no one was going to see us. Some might have thought that mouthwash wasn’t necessary. Now that life is resuming back to normal in the spring, it is important to realize the importance of mouthwash to keep your braces, teeth, mouth, and breathe healthily! You don’t want to see family and friends again with smelly breath either! Mouthwash helps remove bacteria, provides fluoride to keep your teeth enamel stronger and prevent cavities, and promote gum health.
Routine Checkups & Cleaning
Springtime is the perfect time to schedule a bi-yearly dental cleaning! You can go throughout the summer with super clean teeth. This is especially important because braces can cause food and bacteria to get trapped and sensitive gums. Routine cleaning can get food and bacteria out of your braces that not even healthy habits can solve. Your dentist can also determine the course of action for inflamed gums. At Stormberg Orthodontics, we also determine the appropriate time for the patient to come in for routine check-ups to adjust your braces, check your progress and what take what steps are next in your treatment. Spring is the perfect time to do this before your busy summer schedule! The better you maintain your routine checkups with us, the quicker you can get your braces off. You might be able to get them off in the spring before fun summer activities!
