Starting your Braces
Anterior bite pillows are sometimes placed behind the front teeth on the day that you start your braces. You will notice that your back molars won't touch as before - this is completely normal and will change as your teeth move.
Posterior bite pillows are sometimes placed on the biting surfaces of your molars on the day that you start your braces. You will notice that some of your teeth won't touch as before - this is completely normal and will change as your teeth move.
Caring for your Braces
Be sure to clean your teeth on every surface and all around every bracket and part of your appliance after eating. Pay special attention to the area between the braces and your gums, where plaque and food tend to be missed.
Flossing at least once daily is crucial to maintaining the health of the gums and bone supporting the teeth. Threaders or threader floss are great aids to help you get the floss beneath the archwire.
The proxabrush is an important oral hygiene tool for braces. It can help you properly clean some of the areas that are difficult to access with your toothbrush. It's important not to use excessive force with it to avoid breakage of the appliances.
Broken brackets occur with eating hard foods. The pressure of biting into a hard food can break the adhesive between the bracket and the tooth. This won't hurt but will cause the tooth to stop moving until the bracket is repaired.
It's important to avoid hard food, sticky foods, and popcorn when you have braces. Click here for more on this.
There are several things that can be done to help with poking wires. We will discuss the appropriate methods for you to use at home when you have your braces put on. More details are available by clicking here.
Clear Aligners & Invisalign
Clear aligners like Invisalign allow us to improve your smile and bite without the use of braces. Click here to learn more about Invisalign treatment.
Expanders & Other Banded Appliances
Small elastic separators are used to help create a very small amount of space between molars in preparation for fitting bands around the teeth.
Bands are thin metal rings that are placed around molars as part of an appliance or braces. A thin layer of material fills the space between the band and tooth.
Expanders are used to widen the upper jaw, which can help with correction of issues like crossbites and crowding of the teeth. This is a type of appliance that is important to do at a young age, since the suture at the centre of the upper jaw will fuse with age. See more on early treatment by clicking here.
A facemask appliance can help with correction of an underbite resulting from the upper jaw being positioned too far back relative to the lower jaw. It is an option for younger children to reduce the risk for needing jaw surgery later in life. See more on early treatment by clicking here.