Eating with braces

General Soreness

Loosening of teeth

Care of appliances

Brushing

Retainer, Appliances and Expander Instructions

Sporting activities

Loose wire or band

Emergency care

• Chewing foods
• Crunchy foods
• Sticky foods
• Hard foods
• Foods you have to bite into e.g: apples, carrots, corn on the cob.

Damaged braces will cause treatment to take longer.

General Soreness

You may feel general soreness in your mouth and teeth in the first week. Rinsing your mouth with a warm salt-water mouth wash can relieve this.

Dissolve one teaspoonful of salt in small amount of warm water and rinse your mouth.

If tenderness is severe, take whatever you normally take for headache or similar pain.

The lips, cheeks and tongue also become irritated. You can put wax on the braces to lessen the irritation. You doctor will show you how to do this.

Loosening of teeth

You can expect this throughout your treatment. It is quite normal. Teeth must loosen first so that they can move.

As treatment progresses, the teeth will become ridgedly fixed in their new corrected position.

Care of appliances

The patient must work together with the Doctor, to ensure successful completion of treatment.

Damaged appliances lengthen the treatment.

The patient must consistently wear the appliance which they have been prescribed.

Brushing

It is important to brush and floss regularly so that teeth and gums are healthy.

Retainer, Appliances and Expander Instructions

Retainer instructions:

• Wear your retainers full time, until the doctor instructs otherwise.
• Take your retainers out, and always put retainers in their case. Most appliances are lost in school canteen rooms and restaurants.
• Clean retainers thoroughly twice a day with a toothbrush and tooth paste. Use warm but not hot water. Brushing retainers removes the plaque and od ours.
• When retainers are not in your mouth, they should always be in a retainer case.
• At the begriming you may find it difficult to speak.
• Retainers are breakable so treat them with care. If retainers are lost or broken please contact us immediately.
• If you have any questions or concerns please call us.
• Always bring your retainers to your appointments.
• Retainer replacement is expensive.
• Keep retainers away from hot water, hot car dashboards, pockets and tissues.

• Wear your appliance at all times.
• Remove your appliance when you brush your teeth.
• Brush your appliance at least twice a day with a tooth brush and tooth paste.

• Turn your expansion screws as instructed by the doctor.
• Insert the key into the hole and turn towards the arrow.
• If you are unable to keep your appointment, stop turning the expander.
  

• If you play sports, please consult the doctor for a protective mouth guard.
• In case of any accident involving the face, check your mouth and the appliance immediately.
• If teeth are loosened or the appliance damaged phone the practice for an appointment.

• If there is a loose wire or band, phone the practice for an appointment.
• If the wire is irritating use a blunt instrument carefully and gently push the wire under the arch wire.
• If the irritation to the lip or mouth continues, place wax on the wire to reduce the annoyance.
• If any piece comes off, save it and bring it with you to the practice.

• An emergancy appointments may be made when there is severe pain, a loose band, broken wire.
• It's important to know the names of the parts of your appliances. The doctor will inform you of the parts as treatment progresses. It will help when you phone the practice that you are able to identify what part is broken or out of place.