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Home Care Instructions

YOU NOW HAVE ORTHODONTIC DEVICES GLUED TO YOUR TEETH!!

Because we are concerned with your comfort and because we want your orthodontic treatment to progress smoothly and efficiently, we want you to follow this advice:

AVOID EATING HARD and/or STICKY FOODS

Your orthodontic appliances are NOT indestructible. Jaw muscles are very strong and hard foods can easily transmit heavy forces to the devices on your teeth. This can bend wires and/or cause braces or bands to come “unglued”. Repairing broken orthodontic devices is expensive and the extra time and cost involved is not predictable and is not included in our original fee/time estimates.

  • DO NOT EAT: Partially popped or unpopped kernels of popcorn
  • DO NOT EAT: Nuts, peanuts, peanut brittle
  • DO NOT EAT: Hard or sticky candies of any kind (think before you bite!!!)
  • DO NOT EAT: Bones (take meat off bones with utensils, not with your teeth)
  • DO NOT EAT: Large hard raw vegetables (cut carrots up into small pieces first!)
  • DO NOT EAT: Hard bread crusts or thick or crispy pizza crusts
  • DO NOT BITE DIRECTLY INTO crunchy fruit (apples) or ones with pits (cut them up first!)
  • DO NOT BITE DIRECTLY INTO corn on the cob- remove the corn from the cob first!
  • DO NOT CHEW on the ends of pencils or pens (they have no nutritive value anyway!)
  • DO NOT CHEW gum unless the packaging says that it will not stick to dental work
  • DO NOT BITE YOUR Nails- may cause excessive shortening of tooth roots!

IF YOU DO BREAK SOMETHING PLEASE CALL OUR OFFICE RIGHT AWAY. DECAY CAN START UNDER LOOSE ORTHODONTIC DEVICES or teeth can move in the wrong direction if things are bent or broken, complicating and/or lengthening your orthodontic treatment. OUR NUMBER IS 284-5202 ext. 1.

FOR YOUR COMFORT:

If braces or wires irritate your lips or cheeks, cover the part of the brace that is bothering you with a piece of soft wax we have provided. Wax is also available in many pharmacies and grocery stores. If the tissue irritation is severe, try rinsing several times a day with warm salt water (a glass of warm water + 1 tsp of salt).

After we do “adjustments” a patient’s teeth will usually be sore and tender for two to seven days, especially to biting pressure. Please take Tylenol if you need to (follow the dosage instructions on the bottle), and keep taking it every 6 hours for a couple of days. Some people find that chewing a piece of non-stick gum for about 5 minutes helps reduce the tenderness in the teeth- it is like a “tooth massage”. Please do not chew gum chronically, as it is not healthy for jaw joints.

FOR THE HEALTH OF YOUR TEETH AND GUMS :

Please brush after every meal with a fluoride toothpaste, and floss once a day as we have instructed you. The best electric toothbrush is the INTERPLAK- others have been known to pull wires from the braces. We expect to see teeth, gums and braces clean, healthy and shiny at every appointment.

DR. BOUTIN SUGGESTS that every orthodontic patient should rinse with a fluoride mouth rinse twice a day for two minutes at a time to protect the surface of the teeth from the effects of tooth decay. Any mouthwash with approximately .05% sodium fluoride in the ingredients is fine (the Oral B brand seems to be the most consistently available). Do not dilute it, and just rinse, don’t swallow.

YOU MUST WEAR A MOUTH GUARD FOR CONTACT SPORTS OR FOR SPORTS WHERE COLLISIONS OR BLOWS TO THE FACE ARE POSSIBLE( this applies to soccer, basketball, baseball, skiing, luge, etc…) ASK US ABOUT SPECIAL ONES THAT FIT AROUND BRACES!