Why You Should Never Skip Brushing and Flossing

Dr. Yakov Eisenberger, Dr. Rahul Gulati and their team at Hanson Place Orthodontics near Boerum Hill, NY are orthodontia experts and can help explain why you should always maintain good oral health by brushing and flossing your teeth while wearing braces.

We’ve all been taught about the importance of brushing and flossing our teeth, usually after every meal. The one thing that you should never forget to do is clean your teeth properly, especially if you wear braces. While wearing braces, whether you’re a teenager or an adult, maintaining good oral health care practices helps ensure a successful treatment outcome.

Brushing and Flossing When Wearing Braces

Food gets caught in your braces and can stay on your teeth, creating plaque and tartar. These conditions can also cause serious and noticeable complications during your treatment, such as:

• Swollen gums

• Cavities

• Permanent stains on your teeth

• Yellowed teeth

• Bad breath

While wearing braces, not only is it important to brush your teeth multiple times a day, but to brush them the correct way. To get the best brushing results, make sure you brush your teeth and braces from every angle.

• While brushing your braces on and around your top teeth, make sure to brush them with the toothbrush angled downward.

• When brushing your braces on and around your bottom teeth, make sure you brush them with the toothbrush angled upward.

This helps to ensure that each tooth–the front surfaces, the chewing surfaces, and the back surfaces of your teeth–is completely clean. These techniques will also improve your brushing skills and give you a better cleaning treatment each time you brush.

Dr. Yakov Eisenberger and Dr. Rahul Gulati stress that cleaning your mouth, teeth, and braces effectively is an important part of your orthodontic treatment. If you don’t put the effort into your cleaning regimen while you are wearing braces, you may not get the best outcome possible: Clean, healthy, white, straight teeth.

Flossing

It is not enough to simply brush your teeth when you’re wearing braces. Flossing is a necessary (if a bit awkward) and important step toward optimal oral health and the best orthodontic treatment outcome.

For people who wear braces, the Hanson Place Orthodontics team recommends using a waxed floss. Some flossing tools are designed with a stiff tip to reach food stuck under the wire of your braces.

• Thread the floss under the wire before passing the string between the teeth.

• Rub the waxed floss up and down each surface of the tooth and don’t skip cleaning each and every gap.

• Weave the floss through the individual gaps between the teeth (no blood should be seen. If you see blood, you may not be flossing gently enough).

• Be sure to massage the gums during brushing.

• Finish things off with a good and thorough mouthwash rinse.

Both brushing and flossing your teeth properly are crucial steps in your orthodontic treatment with braces. You’ve already spent a lot of money on your braces to straighten your teeth and improve your smile. So why not make the outcome of a fantastic smile even better for you by maintaining good oral health?

If you’ve been searching for an orthodontist near Boerum Hill, NY that can reward you with a beautiful, glowing smile, then look no further than Hanson Place Orthodontics! To make an appointment for a consultation at our office, call Dr. Yakov Eisenberger and Dr. Rahul Gulati at 718.622.2695.