Keeping your child’s teeth clean and breath fresh isn’t just about having a confident, winning smile; it also helps them avoid dental problems such as gingivitis, tartar, and demineralization. But when your child wears braces, maintaining oral hygiene can be challenging.
With braces, teeth become more prone to these dental problems, and while these are unpleasant on their own, they can also evolve into serious oral health issues. Plus, these prolong the time your child has to wear braces. In severe cases of gum disease and oral health issues, your child’s orthodontist may remove their braces, wait for their gums and mouth to heal, and then reapply them.
To help your child get their most confident smile and maximize the time they spend wearing braces to correct their teeth’s alignment, we recently talked to experienced children’s orthodontists in Vaughan,Ontario, called Woodbridge Kids. Here, they share some useful tips for keeping your child’s teeth strong and healthy as they wear braces, and their smiles bright and winning in the long run.
Maximize Dental Care Products
To help your child keep their teeth strong and healthy, these have to be clean, but it’s no secret that the wires and brackets can make this challenging. Getting the best clean requires using the right products that support oral hygiene.
Instead of giving your child a regular toothbrush, it helps to select a new one with toothbrush heads that are made especially for braces. Regular flossing also gets rid of food morsels stuck between teeth, and some types of dental floss can even maneuver around your child’s wires. When selecting a toothpaste, remember to select one for them with strong antibacterial properties as this has a better chance of killing germs in spaces between their brackets.
Carry a Dental Care Kit
Instilling good oral care in your child goes beyond taking care of their teeth at home. In fact, as they’re mostly out and about, it’s essential to pack them a dental care kit and encourage them to use it regularly. This kit should include a toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, sugarless gum, wax, and lip balm. This encourages them to floss between meals, brush their teeth regularly, and take care of chapped lips or chaffing caused by the brackets and wires.
Having a dental care kit with them at all times instills in your child the value of proper oral care and helps them understand that while braces will correct their teeth’s alignment, it is keeping their teeth strong and healthy that will continue to give them healthy and beautiful smiles.
Get Hooked, Stay Hooked
If your child’s braces has hooks, make sure they wear their rubber bands all the time, with the exception of brushing their teeth. This can hurt or cause discomfort sometimes, but keeping the rubber bands on prevents the hooks from digging into, or getting caught in their cheeks. This also helps make sure that their treatment moves as planned, and their teeth’s alignment corrected as early as possible.
Exercise Caution with Broken Wires or Brackets
Having a broken wire or bracket isn’t uncommon among children, so it’s important to walk your child through the steps of dealing with one. When a wire or bracket breaks, make sure they do not panic. Teach your child to avoid bending the wire or pulling it out, as this could make things worse. Instead, just cover any sharp edges with wax or wet cotton, and call your child’s orthodontist to schedule an appointment for fixing it as soon as possible.
Smile
Having braces can affect your child’s self-esteem, as it is common for children wearing braces to feel awkward from being a “metal mouth.” To counter this, it’s important to help your child understand why they have to wear braces, and how these correct their teeth’s alignment to give them a better smile as they grow up. If they’re having some self-esteem issues, build their confidence by pointing out that braces are common, and people actually notice their mouth when it’s clear that they’re trying to hide something. Overall, it’s important to encourage them to smile confidently even with braces, and look forward to when their braces finally come off and they see their new and brighter smile.