Patient
education

Brush after every meal, not just morning and night. Food trapped around brackets is what causes the white marks people notice when braces come off.

• Brush at a 45° angle, above and below each bracket, section by section.
• Use interdental brushes to get under the wire and between the brackets.
• Avoid hard and sticky foods — nuts, ice, boiled sweets, toffee, crusty bread.
• Cut apples, carrots and corn off the cob into pieces rather than biting into them.
• Ceramic brackets stain more readily — go easy on coffee, tea, red wine and curry.

Aligners only move teeth while they are in your mouth. Aim for 20–22 hours a day — everything except eating and cleaning.

• Take them out to eat and to drink anything other than water.
• Brush your teeth before putting them back in.
• Rinse the aligners in cool water; hot water distorts the plastic.
• Change to the next set on the schedule you were given — usually every ten days.
• Keep the previous set until the next one fits properly, in case one is lost.
• Never wrap them in a napkin. That is how most aligners end up in a bin.

Everything that applies to fixed braces applies here, with two additions.

• Speech is affected for the first week or two while the tongue adapts. Reading aloud speeds this up noticeably.
• The tongue takes the irritation rather than the lips — wax works just as well there.
• Cleaning behind the teeth is harder to see. A small mirror and interdental brushes are worth the effort.

These work with jaw growth, which means wear time is not optional — an appliance left in its box does nothing at all.

• Wear it for the hours you were told, including while sleeping.
• Speech and swallowing feel strange at first and settle within a week or two.
• Increased saliva in the first days is normal.
• Clean it with a toothbrush and cool water each time it comes out.
• Keep it in its case when it is not in your mouth.

Retention is the stage that protects everything the treatment achieved. Teeth always want to return to their previous position.

• Wear removable retainers exactly as instructed — usually full-time at first, then nights only.
• Clean them with a toothbrush and cool water, not toothpaste, which scratches the plastic.
• Keep brushing and flossing carefully around a bonded wire retainer — plaque collects along it.
• If a bonded retainer feels loose or a wire has detached, contact the clinic promptly.

Some tenderness around the site for a day or two after placement is normal.

• Keep the area clean — brush gently around the screw head.
• Use the antiseptic mouthwash if one was recommended.
• Avoid pushing at it with your tongue or fingers.
• If it feels loose or mobile, contact the clinic — do not wait for the next appointment.

Tenderness for three to five days after fitting or an adjustment, easing steadily after that. Teeth can feel sensitive to biting during this period.

What is not normal: severe pain, swelling, or a sharp point cutting into the cheek or tongue. Call the clinic if you have any of those.

This is not an emergency, but do let us know so we can decide whether you need to be seen before your next appointment.

If the bracket is still threaded on the wire, leave it there and cover it with wax. If it has come away completely, keep it and bring it with you.

Cover the end with orthodontic wax as a first step. If that is not enough, the end of a clean cotton bud can be used to push the wire flat against the tooth.

As a last resort a poking end can be trimmed with clean nail clippers — but call us first if you can, and in either case let us know at your next visit.

Most things, in a different form. The rule is: nothing hard, nothing sticky, and cut rather than bite.

• Avoid: ice, nuts, boiled sweets, toffee, chewing gum, popcorn kernels, crusty bread.
• Cut up first: apples, carrots, corn on the cob, pizza crusts.
• Limit: fizzy drinks and fruit juice — the sugar and acid, combined with braces, is what causes decay around brackets.

With clear aligners there are no dietary restrictions at all, because the trays come out to eat.

Go back to the previous set straight away so the teeth do not drift, and contact the clinic. Depending on where you are in the series, we will either move you forward to the next set early or order a replacement.

Do not simply leave them out — even a few days without anything in place can mean the following aligners no longer fit.

Contact the clinic promptly. Teeth can move noticeably within a few weeks of retention stopping, and a replacement made quickly is far cheaper than repeating treatment.

If you still have an older retainer that fits, wear that in the meantime.

It depends entirely on the case. Dr. Deen will give you an estimate at the consultation, once he has the records in front of him, rather than a figure guessed in advance.

What genuinely shortens treatment is keeping appointments, wearing elastics or aligners as instructed, and not breaking brackets.

Yes to both. For contact sport, wear a mouthguard — tell us you need one and we will advise on the right type for braces.

Wind and brass players usually need a couple of weeks to readjust their embouchure. Wax over the brackets helps during that period.

They will try to. Teeth always want to return to their pre-treatment position, and some move unpredictably with age regardless of whether you ever had braces.

This is exactly what retainers exist for, and why retention is treated as part of the treatment rather than an afterthought. See retainers.