By Dear Patient, Dear Parents:
What you can do to make your orthodontic treatment pleasant?
It’s really up to you whether your orthodontic treatment is a pleasant experience, or whether it is a “pain in the neck” (or teeth) to both of us.
Extra good care of the mouth is necessary during treatment. Appliances are very delicate (although strong enough to do their jobs), and they will not stand undue abuse or neglect.
These are the most important parts of your usual appliance
BANDS: These are thin bands of metal (a ring), carefully fitted to your teeth and then cemented in place. They carry brackets, tubes etc.
BRACKETS: These are thin sheaths of metal with tiny slot on it. Brackets can be bonded (glued) directly on a tooth or fixed onto a metal bands.
The bands and bonded brackets, either, do make your teeth harder to clean. The brackets, tubes and wires tend to make a little shelf around the outside of the teeth.
ARCH WIRES: These act as a guide or tract along which the teeth are to be moved. They are changed throughout the treatment. Each change brings us closer to the ideal tooth position.
You may feel a little tension or slightly pain for a few days. Cool water can help relieving pain.
The use of analgesic drug is generally unnecessary.
LIGATURE WIRES: Tiny pieces of wires tied around the brackets to secure the arch wires.
O-RING: Tiny pieces of rubbers tied around the brackets to secure the arch wires. It comes in different colours.
ELASICS: O-shape elastics hang around the hooks or loops on the arch wires. It will be used to pull or push your teeth or jaws in certain directions. It is coded with different animal pictures.
HEADGEAR (RETRACTOR): This is a piece of metal appliance looks like a bow, which is hooked to a neck strap or a cap outside the mouth and help to bring the upper teeth back.
FOODS TO AVOID:
Be very careful about the types of food you eat and about the manner in which you eat them.t
Hard foods may do damages by bending wires, loosening cement under the bands or breaking
the little brackets and tubes.
DON’T EAT: Pop corn, Nuts, Peanut brittle, Ice Cubes, Ice Creams, Lemons (pure lemon juice
can hurt your tooth enamel), Corn Chips, Taffy, Caramels, and Bubble Gum Carrots, Apples, Hard French Bread may be eaten by cutting it into small pieces and use back teeth.
Sticky foods such as caramels and candy bars do a great deal of damage to your braces by bending wires and pulling cement loose.
Foods high in sugar content such as ice creams, sweets, candy bars, cake and pie cause cavities. If you have to eat any of them, eat at the end of a meal and brush your teeth immediately. If not convenient to brush, then always rinse your mouth with clear water after eating.
Why not eat Ice Cubes and Ice Creams? As mentioned above, another reason is the sudden changes of temperture can cause the bands loosed and cavities (decay) are invited.
TOOTH BRUSHING TECHNIQUE:
Brush your teeth immediately after each meal. Because the chemical reaction between bacterias in the mouth and the food debris will take place within 5 minutes.
You brush as we show you. First hold the water in the mouth and brush for 4 minutes over a sink, the food fragments will be washed out easily. Then proceed the brushing for another 2 minutes with your favorite fluoride containing tooth paste.
Keep your brackets, bands and teeth EXTRA CLEAN (PLAQUE FREE). Intensive care at all time will keep them clean and shiny like the first day you got it. Only you can take care of them.
Please always have a tooth brush in your pocket and clean your teeth before getting on the
dental chair. Select a proper tooth brush, you may use a special type “orthodontic tooth brush” or travel type.
DENTAL FLOSS OR SUPER FLOSS
One of our staff can show you how to use dental floss, you will get gum diseases (red, swelling and bleeding) within a few months after the initiation of the treatment due to the plaque under the gum tissue. No tooth brush can remove it.
The oral lavage of oral hygiene device (Water type) can be very helpful but it is to be used AFTER thorough brushing. It is not a “substitute” for brushing but it does remove food particles that brush cannot reach.
ABOUT THE APPOINTMENTS:
Keep your appointments as they are scheduled. We appreciate it when you and your parents look ahead on the family calendar and check for any conflicts. Please call early, instead of waiting until your appointment day, we can reschedule easily not to delay your progress.
Wear your appliances exactly as prescribed. When scheduled for a headgear or other removable appliance check, you always have it with you.
What to do if you damage your applinces?
If a band come loose from a tooth, call our office at once for emergency appointment. While a tight band actually protect a tooth from decay, a loose band is extremely dangerous and decay under it occurs very rapidly. Keep all the parts and bring them in when you come to our office.
If a small tie wire stick out, use blunt object (an eraser on a pencil or a matches) tuck the “Little Sticker” back in out of way, so that it no longer causes you discomfort.
If a small tie wire breaks, carefully remove it and call our office or place some protection wax over the “Little Sticker”. This wax is provided for you by our office.
Join our happy team on your very first visit. Let us smile with you right down the road to that wonderful day when your braces are removed and your beautiful teeth are your life-long reward
for having been such a great patient.
Orthodontically yours,
