How to manage and avoid problems with your brace!

One of the biggest problems patients face throughout their orthodontic treatment is avoiding any mishaps with their brace and managing them when they do occur. This is even more critical during the festive period with lots of tempting treats that can cause problems with your brace.

Avoiding problems with your brace can be very simple. When you have a brace fitted you need to take more care with what and how you are eating because unfortunately braces are not indestructible! There are two main types of food that you need to avoid:

• Crunchy, hard and crispy foods – such as apples, baguettes and crunchy biscuits.
• Sticky and chewy foods – such as toffees, caramels, Haribo’s and cereal bars.

With lots of these foods it’s simply a case of avoiding eating them whilst you have your brace on. You can also adapt the way in which you eat. Instead of taking large bites of foods try chopping things up into smaller pieces and eating on your back teeth. You’ll find doing this will reduce the risk of any unwanted problems.

However, sometimes no matter how careful you are, there will be occasions when a part of your brace may break or become loose. The first question to ask yourself if this happens should be, is this causing me any discomfort?

If the answer is no, then you don’t need to do anything but simply wait until your next appointment. Don’t worry, the brace will still be working!
If the breakage is causing you discomfort, there are a few things you can do;

• Use your orthodontic wax. Using the wax is easy and will have been shown to you when you had your brace fitted. If you have a particular part of your brace which is rubbing, brace wax can provide instant relief!
• If it’s a long wire that’s causing you trouble use a good pair of nail cutters to cut the section of wire that’s causing discomfort.
• Treat any ulcers as normal.
• Use the painkillers you would normally take for a headache if your teeth are aching or tender to bite on.

If you’ve tried all these methods without success please do give us a call. If we are closed there will be emergency contact numbers on the answer phone message and our opening hours are on our website. We always try our best to see you to get you out of any discomfort so please don’t worry!

Just remember, the best way to avoid any problems with your brace is to take extra care with your diet.