Beautiful teeth with braces and the right dental appliance
Most people have worn this accessory at least once: braces. Whether they are loose or fixed, braces provide a breeding ground for bacteria. That's why proper cleaning is important for your dental health!
Loose braces
When you take your loose braces out to brush your teeth, you should also clean them immediately. Daily cleaning is the same as for your teeth: Simply brush with a toothbrush and toothpaste. This removes plaque from the braces and prevents tartar from forming. However, the toothpaste should not contain very coarse abrasive particles, as these could scratch the plastic of the braces. An RDA value of 30-50 is good for this.
Our secret tip for a particularly thorough cleaning: Mix a 1:1 mixture of water and vinegar and put your braces in it for half an hour. Vinegar is a common household remedy because of its antiseptic effect. It disinfects and kills germs! Then rinse your braces again under lukewarm water.
Psssh: You can also use this method to clean your grinding braces!
Fixed braces
Unfortunately, brackets cannot be easily removed for cleaning. Therefore, when brushing your teeth, you should consciously brush every tooth above and below the bracket. You can easily reach the part of your teeth below the wire with an interdental brush. You can also reach the interdental spaces with an interdental brush - despite the wire! Finally, you can use a mouth rinse to help thoroughly clean all elements of the fixed braces. In any case, it is important that you maintain your oral hygiene conscientiously during this time. The fixed elements of your braces significantly increase the risk of tooth decay, as food debris can easily get caught there and plaque is also difficult to reach. The consequences of insufficient dental care can then be caries and/or inflammation of the gums. Especially an initial caries (a so-called initial caries) is often found around the brackets after the braces are removed and shows up in the form of whitish spots on the tooth surface. These are areas where the enamel has been decalcified and thus now appear whitish-opaque. Many people find these spots disturbing, especially on the front teeth, but they can usually be reduced by remineralising measures. To minimise the risk from the beginning, thorough dental hygiene is essential. Also, rinse your mouth thoroughly with water after every meal to remove even coarse food debris.
Find more topics here: