It's hard to keep your teeth and gums clean when you have braces. The brackets and wires get in the way of both your toothbrush and your floss, and if you're not careful, it's easy for tartar to build up on your teeth. This can lead to gum disease. Here are three things that you need to know about braces and gum disease.
What causes gum disease?
After you eat, a slimy, white substance called plaque develops on your teeth. Plaque is soft and can be easily removed with proper brushing and flossing, but if plaque isn't removed, it hardens and turns into tartar. This can happen in as little as 24 hours, so you need to be very vigilant about your oral hygiene routine.
Tartar can't be removed with a toothbrush and floss, so once it forms, the only way to get it off is to see your dentist for a professional cleaning. If you put off the cleaning, the bacteria in the tartar will irritate your gum tissue and eventually lead to an infection known as gum disease.
Is gum disease serious?
You may already know that gum disease makes your gums red, swollen, and sore, but gum disease can get much worse than that. The infection can lead to the formation of abscesses, painful pockets of pus within your gum tissue. Abscesses need to be surgically drained by your dentist, and if they're not treated, can spread to other parts of your body.
Abscesses aren't the only problem. If gum disease isn't treated, it spreads from the gum tissue to the tissues underneath your teeth, such as ligaments and bones. This destroys these crucial supporting tissues, and over time, your teeth can become loose or even fall out. When you're spending a lot of money to straighten your teeth, the last thing you want is for them to fall out!
How can you avoid gum disease?
You can avoid gum disease by brushing and flossing your teeth thoroughly. This is hard when you have braces, but it's not impossible. You just need to learn a slightly different technique.
Before you brush, take off any elastics, retainers, or removable appliances; these things will make it hard for you to reach all areas of your teeth. When you begin brushing, first focus your attention on the area around your brackets. You need to carefully tilt your brush towards the brackets to reach all sides of the brackets. Once the brackets are clean, you can clean the rest of your teeth by brushing normally.
Traditional flossing is difficult when you wear braces, thanks to the wires, but that doesn't mean that you can't clean between your teeth. You may want to use a device like a floss threader to guide the floss underneath your wires. If you have trouble with a floss threader, you can try interdental brushes. These brushes look like pipe cleaners and are easy to guide beneath your wires. Your dentist can teach you how to use both of these alternative flossing methods.
Getting regular dental hygiene cleanings is incredibly important when you have braces. Even if you brush and floss carefully, you may still miss some plaque, which can then turn into tartar. Your dentist will remove any tartar that you left behind. You should see your dentist once every six months for a cleaning. If you're having trouble keeping your teeth clean, your dentist may want to see you every three months.
If you think you're developing gum disease, make sure to see your dentist right away. Your dentist can treat your condition with a deep cleaning, and in no time, you'll be as good as new.
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