Getting Your Braces Off Sooner

Getting Your Braces Off?

Braces can help realign your teeth and make for a nice smile, but even so many people want to get them off as soon as possible. There are several things you can do to help keep your mouth clean and help let your braces do the work they need to.

Getting Braces Off Early

Some things you can do to help your get your braces off as soon as possible include:

• Keep your mouth clean: Better dental hygiene can allow your teeth to move into the correct position quicker, and shorten the wearing time for your braces.
• Chop up solid food: Cut up foods such as raw fruits and vegetables and hard-crusted bread into bite-sized pieces to reduce pressure on braces during eating.
• Don’t chew on anything but food: Chewing on objects such as pens and straws can damage braces and result in added time at the orthodontist’s office.
• Don’t push your teeth out of line: ;Activities such as biting your nails and playing with your elastics can prolong the amount of time you have to wear braces. Kick those nervous habits.
• Don’t eat hard, sticky or sugary foods, or drink fizzy beverages: Avoid foods such as popcorn, nuts, chips, bubblegum, toffee, caramels and cookies. And don't chew on ice cubes or drink soda pop. All of these things can damage braces and/or cause tooth decay.

Complete Your Oral Care Routine for Braces

While still wearing braces, brush with an electric toothbrush like the Oral-B iO. It surrounds each tooth to effectively remove more of the plaque that can lead to staining and decay. Or brush with an electric toothbrush equipped with an ortho brush head like the Ortho Replacement Brush Head, it’s uniquely designed to easily clean around dental work such as braces. And don’t forget to floss! Oral-B Super Floss is perfect for cleaning braces and wide gaps. Plus, you can supplement regular dental floss with the Oral-B Water Flosser Advanced. It includes a Focused Stream for more precise and targeted cleaning to better remove plaque and food trapped between wires and brackets.