Oral Hygiene Tips

It is important to brush your teeth at least twice a day for two minutes. Using a soft bristle brush orient your tooth brush bristles toward your gum line and make small circular motions to remove plaque and food from your teeth. All of us at Bruner Othodontics want you to know how important it is for you to keep your teeth clean. Clean teeth will mean healthy gums and no cavities or no white spots around your braces. Clean teeth will mean less inflammation which gives your body the best ability to move your teeth in a healthy way. Of course you need to make healthy choices with the foods that you eat while you are in orthodontic treatment. This will prevent you from breaking or dislodging your braces and arch wires. Avoiding soda pop and other acidic foods will also help keep your enamel strong. In everything we do, we want to be sending you the message and giving you the tools to be healthy.

Wearing your intra oral elastics as prescribed by Dr. Bruner and Dr. Helgen is the absolute best way to speed up your orthodontic treatment. At Bruner Orthodontics, we utilize low friction orthodontic appliances, like Damon Braces, that allow light gentle elastics to apply gentle efficient forces to move your teeth into their final position. The more you wear your elastics, the shorter your treatment time will be. The first few days that you wear your elastics you may experience some pain and discomfort, but with each passing day it should be subsiding. Eventually the elastics should cause no discomfort and yet they will still be shortening your treatment time and helping you achieve the best results.

Plaque is the waste product made by the bacteria in your mouth, often known as streptococcous mutans. The bugs eat the food you leave behind and then leave an acidic white plaque on your teeth. If left on your teeth, over time the plaque will cause the enamel to lose its mineral properties and turn white and yellow. These spots are known as decalcification. These unhealthy spots never go away and cannot be bleached to make them blend into your healthy enamel. The best way to treat these decalcification spots is to prevent them in the first place. You can do this by modifiying your diet to avoid acidic things like soda pop, and by brushing your teeth adequately and often.

Orthodontics has been changing rapidly for the last decade, and recently it has been evolving more than ever. The Damon System and the H4 System are orthodontic brackets (braces) that do not use ties. Traditional braces use colored alastic ties to hold the wire in place. With the self-ligating (tie-less) braces a metal door is used that closes and holds the wire in the bracket slot. The result is braces that are more clean, and have less friction between the braces and the arch wire. Teeth then can move easier and with lighter more gentle forces, making your experience more comfortable. There has been more research in passive self ligation than in any other type of bracket system in the last 10 years. We have enjoyed achieving great results for our patients using this technology, often with less extractions, less headgear, and less time in treatment than we used to have!

If your braces are causing extreme pain or if something breaks, you should call our office. In most cases, we can address these issues over the telephone. If you require an emergency appointment, we will set aside time for you.