3 Tips for Adjusting to Braces

When you get braces, you are going to need to learn a whole new system for caring for your teeth, for eating, and sometimes even for speaking. This can be quite the adjustment for some, but thankfully there are certain things that you can do to make the process as smooth as possible. This article is going to discuss three tips for adjusting to having braces.

Use Floss Threaders

You will soon realize that brushing your teeth with braces is a completely different ball game. You now have brackets and wires that you have to work around, and you still have to get your teeth as clean as possible. Flossing is also very different because you can't just floss your teeth like you used to. You instead are going to need to get the floss around the wire on each tooth so that you can floss clear up to the top.  A great tool for doing this effectively is a floss threader. A floss threader is a stiff piece of plastic with a loop in it that you can run your regular floss through. This is then threaded underneath the wire of your braces, allowing you to get your floss up to your actual tooth. This allows you to floss each tooth completely, allowing you to still have healthy teeth and gums even with braces.

Cut Up Your Food

Foods that you used to be able to eat with braces are no longer going to be allowed, and some foods are going to need to be eaten in a new way. For example, even though you used to just bite into an apple, you are now going to need to cut it up. Biting directly into hard foods can cause your brackets to break off, which will require extra appointments to get the brackets put back on and perhaps an extended time in braces. Cutting up foods is a quick and easy way to help you adjust to eating with braces.

Use Wax Whenever Needed

The inside of your lips and cheeks are not going to be used to the wires and the brackets on your teeth at first. Because of this, they are going to get pretty torn up and may even bleed. A great way to reduce the amount of pain you feel from this, and to allow your mouth to slowly adjust, is to use wax to cover the brackets and wires where they are especially painful. This allows your mouth to become accustomed to the wires and brackets and makes the transition much less painful for you.