The truth of the matter is that it can be really challenging at times to brush your teeth properly when you have braces on your teeth. The whole aim of this article is to help you keep your teeth as clean as possible so that you’ll have a beautiful, white smile the day your braces come off.
The first tip is to always make sure that you are using a soft toothbrush. It is going to be essential that you use this brush to keep the area around the brackets clean at all times, especially near the gumline.
Using a brush with tough bristles is only going to result in you damaging your gums over the long term, which is exactly what you don’t want!
The second tip would be to firstly begin brushing your teeth with just a wet toothbrush and no toothpaste. Toothpaste is great and contains a lot of beneficial ingredients that are good for your teeth, but all the foam makes it really hard to see what you are actually doing.
After you have cleaned your teeth and gums thoroughly with a wet toothbrush then use a little bit of toothpaste to go over your teeth with some fluoride and all the other stuff that is good for your teeth.
The third tip would be to remove the bits of food that are stuck in your braces using a picking action rather than a brushing action.
Your toothbrush literally has thousands of bristles on the end of it which work just like a toothpick to help get into every little area of your mouth and in this case every area around your braces.
Yes brushing your teeth over your braces will help to remove some of the plaque that is there, but it won’t get to any of the plaque or food that is stuck underneath the brackets.
The fourth tip is to make sure that you actually time yourself and ensure that you are brushing your teeth for at least two whole minutes.
Yes, you might feel that this is something that you already do, but the reality is that when people actually time themselves they usually discover that they only brush their teeth for a maximum of 30 seconds!
The fifth tip would be to use toothpaste that tastes great and actually makes you want to keep brushing your teeth for a full two minutes.
Yes, every brand of toothpaste will have different ingredients in them, but that doesn’t matter because research shows that the ingredients are not important… it is how much time you spend brushing your teeth that will determine how good your overall oral health is.
If you love the toothpaste that gives you that minty fresh feeling after you finish, then that is the one that you should get because it will make you want to brush your teeth for a whole two minutes.
The most important ingredient in a toothpaste is fluoride, which most toothpastes have these days.
The sixth tip would be to avoid rinsing your mouth after you brush your teeth at night. Spit but avoid rinsing. There is some research to suggest that doing this will give you a massive dose of fluoride, the same amount you would be getting if you were taking an expensive fluoride supplement.
So avoid the expensive fluoride supplement and start leaving a little toothpaste foam on your teeth before you retire for the night.
The final tip would be to invest in a quality electric toothbrush. Yes you can do fine with a manual toothbrush, but the reality is that you will be able to get great results with less effort using an electric toothbrush.
There is some research out there that suggests that those electric brushes that vibrate actually do a better job cleaning your teeth than those that just rotate. So go ahead save some time and effort by using an electric toothbrush.
For those of you that want a visual guide… here you go: