Brushing & Flossing

Proper oral hygiene cannot be stressed enough during orthodontic care. Plaque can and will accumulate around the braces as early as 10 minutes after a snack or a meal. We recommend that you brush and floss at least once a day. At your initial braces placement appointment, we will give you a prescription for a fluoride gel. The fluoride will not substitute for proper brushing and flossing!

How To Brush:

Begin by placing the head of the brush beside your teeth, with the bristles angled against the gum line (where the teeth and gums meet). Think of the brush as both a toothbrush and a gum brush. With the bristles contacting both tooth and gum, move the brush back and forth several times across each tooth individually.

Use a short stroke and a gentle scrubbing motion, as if the goal were to massage the gum. Don't try to force the bristles under the gum line; that will happen naturally, especially with a brush that has soft, flexible bristles.

Brush the outer surfaces of the upper and lower teeth. Then use the same short back-and-forth strokes on the inside surfaces. Try to concentrate harder on the inside surfaces; studies show they're more often neglected. For the upper and lower front teeth, brush the inside surfaces by using the brush vertically and making several gentle up – and – down strokes over the teeth and gums.

Finish up by lightly scrubbing the chewing surfaces of the upper and lower teeth.  You should also brush your tongue for a fresher breath.

Here's How To Floss:

We provide you with special floss threaders to weave the floss underneath the arch wire.

With full braces, you will need to thread the floss separately for each tooth. This may seem like a major nuisance at first, but after a short time, it won't seem like much effort. You should floss under both sides of each flap of gum tissue between your teeth. The following technique has proven to be very effective:

Break off about 18 inches of floss and wind a good bit of it around one of your middle fingers. Wind the rest around the middle finger of the other hand. Grasp the floss with the thumb and forefinger of each hand, leaving about an inch of floss between the two hands to work with.

Pull the floss taut and use a gentle sawing motion to insert it between the two teeth. When the floss reaches the tip of the triangular gum flap, curve the floss into a C Shape against one of the teeth. Then slide the floss gently into the space between the tooth and the gum until you feel resistance. Holding the floss tightly against the tooth, scrape up and down five or six times along the side of the tooth. Without removing the floss, curve it around the adjacent tooth and scrape that one too. Repeat on the rest of your teeth. Don't forget the far sides of your rear teeth. When the floss becomes frayed or soiled, a turn of each middle finger brings out a fresh section of floss. After flossing, rinse vigorously with water.