When you first have your fixed braces fitted your teeth may become tender for 24-48 hours after. This is perfectly normal; your teeth are not used to having a brace and are now starting to move. Your teeth can sometimes feel tender for up to a week or two. This will not last throughout the whole of your treatment and the only time you may experience tenderness is just a couple of days after we adjust your brace. To help with any pain or tenderness it is advised that you eat soft foods for the first few days.
Your treatment plan may include elastic band wear. These play an important role with your fixed braces. The brackets and archwires that are fixed to the teeth are helping to align the teeth and the elastics are needed to help correct your bite. There are many elastics that can be used, and these elastics can help to correct all different bites. If elastics are needed in your treatment, your Orthodontist/Orthodontic Therapist will show you where they are going and explain why you need them. It is important to make sure that you wear your elastics as if you do not the bite cannot be corrected. Before you leave your appointment, we will ensure you can place and remove them yourself. Most patients will need to wear their elastics full time. We may reduce this to night-time only dependent on how well they are working.
You must ensure that you maintain good oral hygiene throughout your orthodontic treatment. If oral hygiene is bad there is a risk that decalcification can occur. Decalcification is where permanent marks are left on the teeth, and this is due to not brushing around the brackets and archwires correctly. To prevent this from happening it is important to ensure you are using the appropriate brushes that your Orthodontist or Orthodontic Therapist advises you to use. Teeth should be brushed twice a day morning and night, four minutes at a time. This includes two minutes on the brace and two minutes on the teeth. Ensuring you have no plaque present and healthy gums that do not bleed will help to avoid decalcification issues. We review your oral hygiene at every appointment and if bad oral hygiene occurs, we will remind you of oral hygiene instructions and advise on the areas you are missing. Persistent bad oral hygiene will result in removal of your fixed braces to prevent damage to the teeth.
Fixed appliances consist of brackets and archwires to help move the teeth. Your Orthodontist/Orthodontic Therapist will bond the brackets to the teeth using an adhesive. An arch wire is then engaged into the bracket slots which helps to move the teeth. When your fixed brace is first put on a flexible starting arch wire is used. This allows us to engage all the teeth from the position that they are in. The arch wires have a memory and are heat activated. The heat from inside your mouth will active the arch wire which will allow the wire to want to move back to its original position before it was inserted into the mouth. As you progress through treatment the teeth will become straighter, and the wire gets thicker and thicker as treatment progresses.
Fixed braces are used to treat all different malocclusions (bites). Fixed braces are typically known as ‘train track’ braces where they are fixed to your teeth and cannot be removed unless done so by your orthodontist or orthodontic therapist with special instruments in the practice. Fixed braces have changed over the years and can often have either small metal or tooth-coloured ceramic brackets.
Removing your fixed braces does not hurt at all, in fact it is really easy! We use a special instrument that will click the braces off the teeth. Once removed you will be able to feel the excess glue left on the teeth. To remove this, we polish the teeth using a hand piece which we refer to as an electric toothbrush. Using this does not damage your teeth as it is not strong enough to damage the enamel. The hand piece is quite noisy but the only thing you will feel is just the backwards and forwards motion of us removing the glue.
When you first have fixed braces fitted the arch wires are very flexible. This can mean that the arch wire can have a habit of popping out of the back brackets. If this happens it should not cause you any pain and can often be left until your next appointment. If however the arch wire is moving around in your mouth it is possible to carefully cut the excess wire with a pair of nail clippers up to the next bracket. This will not damage your brace and your brace will still be able to work in its usual way. When we see you at your next appointment, we will fix this for you. Orthodontic wax can also be used to prevent any irritation or discomfort. If you do ever experience any concerns or issues with your brace, please contact us and we will be able to provide some advice.
During your fixed brace treatment there may be occasions where a bracket may come off. This can be due to several reasons. The force from the arch wire can sometimes ping the bracket off. Eating hard or chewy foods can also cause brackets to come away. If you find that you have lost a bracket, please contact the practice so we can then assist you further.
Some foods can cause damage to your brace, so we advise that you alter your diet slightly when you have a fixed brace. A damaged brace can hinder treatment and increase your treatment time. Please ensure that you avoid chewing gum, boiled sweets, mints, sticky toffees and hard foods as they can all cause damage. Crunchy foods such as apples and raw carrots are best cut into smaller pieces. Please also avoid playing with your brace, chewing pens and biting nails to prevent any breakages.
If you brace is rubbing and you are in pain or discomfort, then please contact the practice. We will be able to assist you further and arrange an appointment if necessary. You may like to try using orthodontic wax to cover the area of your brace to relieve you from discomfort until you can come and see us. If it is an ulcer or cut that has appeared, we advise you use the wax on the area of the brace that is rubbing and use warm salty water rinses twice a day which will help to settle the sore area.
We advise that you avoid fizzy drinks and cordials containing sugar as these are extremely damaging towards the teeth. An excessive intake can result in permanent markings left on the surfaces of the teeth known as decalcification. If you have the occasional fizzy/sugary drink, we recommend drinking these at mealtimes and cleaning your teeth afterwards.
When you first have a tooth-coloured fixed brace fitted we recommend you initially avoid any strong coloured foods such as curries, strong tea, black coffee and red wine within the first 24 hours as this can lead to staining. The only part of your brace that may go yellow will be the clear bands that hold the arch wire into place within the brackets. We will change these bands at every appointment, so if you wanted to treat yourself to a curry have one the day before your appointment as we will be changing your bands!
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by Dental
DesignSite last updated: February 2025
