How to Take Care of your Kyle Braces Even When You’re on Vacation
School’s out, and it’s summertime! Here at Oldham Family Orthodontics in Kyle, we want you to get out there and enjoy the sun and have fun on all the vacations you’ve planned for this summer. For many children and adults, summertime is also the perfect time to get braces in Kyle! Summer allows you a good 2-3 months to get used to the way braces feel and look before the school routine starts up again.
As you travel with your friends and family, it can be easy to let your normal brushing and flossing habits slip. When you don’t take proper care of your teeth, you can cause damage to your braces, and even prolong the amount of time you’ll have to wear them. Here are some tips from our orthodontic office in Kyle on how to take great care of your Kyle braces even when you’re on vacation.
Pack a Travel-Sized Toothbrush You Can Keep in Your Pocket
One of the most important things to remember about braces in Kyle is to brush your teeth after every meal. It’s pretty hard to do that without a toothbrush. While you may pack your normal sized toothbrush with your other toiletry items, it’s a good idea to invest in a small, travel-sized toothbrush that you can keep with you when you’re out and about and on the go. Choose a toothbrush with soft bristles that won’t hurt the brackets, and follow these tips for brushing:
- Place your toothbrush at a 45 degree angle to your gums and brush gently in a circular motion
- Brush outer, inner, and chewing surfaces, including above and below braces
- Brush every tooth in your mouth on the front and back to remove bacteria
- Spend about 2-3 minutes brushing (set a timer if you have to!) to make sure you got everything
Even if you’re at a busy place like a waterpark, you can take a quick trip to the bathroom after lunch and brush out all the food and debris that may have gotten stuck between the brackets. Keeping your brackets and wires clean will reduce the amount of bacteria in your mouth and allow your braces to do their job.
If you forget to bring your toothbrush, simply rinsing out your mouth with water after eating is extremely helpful and can take care of a lot of the stuck food. Just remember to brush your teeth the next chance you get.
Floss Regularly Between Your Kyle Braces
Is it annoying to floss on vacation? Yes, probably. Do you need to do it? Yes, absolutely! Keep up those great flossing habits even while out of town. It can be tough to floss with braces, but it’s worthwhile for a beautiful, clean and healthy smile. Floss threaders make things a whole lot easier and can help you get between all those tricky spaces. At Oldham Family Orthodontics in Kyle, we like to recommend Oral B Super Floss because it comes with a stiffened end to floss under appliances, spongy-floss to clean around appliances and in wide spaces, and regular floss to help remove plaque under the gumline. Follow these steps for effective flossing:
- Using the stiffened end, thread the spongy-floss between teeth and braces
- Use a soft back-and-forth motion to remove plaque under the braces
- Pull the spongy-floss through to the regular floss section
- Gently slide the regular floss under the gumline. Use an up-and-down motion to remove plaque
- Repeat with each tooth for a clean smile!
If all you have access to is regular floss, that’s ok. Just do the best you can and try to get any stuck food out. Floss picks can help, as well as practice, practice, practice!
Foods to Avoid on Vacation (Don’t Take a Vacation from the No-No List!)
“If you’re in braces, your diet is going to be a little more restrictive than if you’re in Invisalign because the braces are on your teeth 24/7,” says Kyle Orthodontist Dr. Oldham. “You need to be careful not to displace brackets with sticky or crunchy foods.”
When you get your braces, you’ll be given a list of foods that are “no-no’s”. Some of the food items on this list include:
- Ice (yes, avoid, even Sonic ice!)
- Hard pretzels and chips
- Caramel candy and gum
- Suckers
- Nuts
- Popcorn
These foods should be avoided no matter if you’re at home or on vacation. Chips and ice can actually break brackets off and destroy your braces if you eat enough of them. Caramel candy, gum, suckers, and sticky foods can pull off wires and brackets. Nuts and popcorn can get stuck in between the gums and the bands on your braces and cause you a lot of pain. Do your best to avoid all these foods and stick to healthier, softer foods that won’t interfere with your Kyle braces.
What to Do in Case of a Braces Emergency
Sometimes no matter how hard you try to keep your braces clean and everything in its place, wires can shift and move and break. Brackets can also become dislodged if you are hit in the face with a hard object. If you end up with a protruding or broken wire while you’re on vacation and you can’t get to our office right away, you can trim the ends with a nail clipper or cover the sharp end with dental wax. Use tweezers to move the sharp wire away from the soft tissues in your mouth. If a bracket becomes separated from the tooth but is still hooked on the wire, then you can take a pair of sterilized tweezers and slide the floating bracket to the center of the tooth. Cover the bracket with dental wax and check on it periodically throughout the remainder of your vacation. Then call our orthodontic office in Kyle as soon as possible and make an appointment to be seen right away when you return from your vacation so we can fix things for you and make you more comfortable.
At Oldham Family Orthodontics in Kyle, we want you to have a great summer vacation and enjoy lots of fun trips with your families. Be sure you take care of those teeth and Kyle braces while you’re having fun, and you’ll be good to go!
If you live in Kyle, Buda or San Marcos, braces treatment has never been easier.
We provide braces in Kyle to kids, teens, and adults.