Eating and oral hygiene with braces

Braces change two things you do every day: eating and brushing. Brackets and wires create many corners where food collects, and clear aligners have to come out for every meal. Looking after your teeth properly keeps teeth and gums healthy throughout treatment, prevents the white decalcified spots around brackets, and saves you from pausing treatment to treat decay.

The first days after fitting

For a few days after brackets are fitted or a new tray is started, teeth feel sore and tender when biting. Cheeks and lips may rub. This is normal and settles within about a week.

• Eat soft food: porridge, soup, soft rice, eggs, yoghurt, bananas, fish.
• Use the orthodontic wax the clinic gives you to cover a bracket that rubs.
• Rinse with warm salt water if you have small ulcers.
• If you need pain relief, ask your doctor which medicine and dose suits you rather than buying something yourself.

If you are treated at Asahii Dental Clinic, the care guide for the days after your braces are fitted is in the clinic's Zalo Mini App, so you can look it up at any time instead of trying to remember everything said in the chair.

Food to limit with fixed braces

• Hard food: ice, hard nuts, bones, hard sweets, crusty bread, sugar cane. These break brackets or bend wires.
• Chewy and sticky food: gummy sweets, chewing gum, beef jerky, sticky rice cakes. They stick to brackets and are hard to clean off.
• Food you bite with your front teeth: whole apples, corn on the cob, ribs. Cut them small, take the meat off the bone, and chew with your back teeth.
• Sweets and fizzy drinks: raise the risk of decay and white spots around brackets. If you do have them, use a straw and rinse straight afterwards.

With clear aligners you remove the trays to eat, so you can eat almost normally. Drink only plain water while wearing trays; tea, coffee and soft drinks stain the trays and cause decay underneath them.

Brushing around brackets

• Brush after every meal, at least twice a day, two minutes each time.
• Use a soft, small-headed brush. Angle it from above and then from below to clean the top and bottom edges of each bracket.
• Brush gently along the gum line with the brush tilted 45 degrees towards the gum.
• Use fluoride toothpaste. Ask your doctor about a higher-fluoride toothpaste or rinse if you are prone to decay.
• Check in the mirror afterwards: brackets should be shiny, with no white film around them.

With clear aligners: brush your teeth, and brush the trays with a soft brush and water. Never use hot water, which can warp the trays.

Useful tools

• Interdental brushes: slide under the archwire to clean between brackets.
• Floss with a stiff end, or a floss threader: to get floss under the wire.
• Water flosser: helps clean between teeth and around brackets, but does not replace brushing.
• A small mirror and a light: to check the hidden corners yourself.
• A case for your trays (with aligners): wrapping trays in a napkin is how most of them get thrown away.

When a bracket comes loose or a wire rubs

• A bracket is loose but still on the wire: leave it, cover it with wax, and call the clinic to have it re-bonded soon.
• A bracket has come off completely: keep it and bring it to your appointment.
• The end of the wire pokes your cheek: cover it with wax. If it hurts a lot, you can push it in gently with a clean pencil eraser. Do not cut the wire with unclean tools.
• An elastic tie or ligature has come off: mention it at your next visit, unless it is bothering you.
• A tray is cracked or lost: call the clinic; the doctor will tell you whether to go back to the previous tray or move on to the next.

Every time a bracket stays off for a while, that tooth can stop moving for weeks and the whole treatment gets longer. Asahii is open every day of the week, 08:30 to 19:00, so a bracket that comes off at the weekend can be re-bonded without waiting for Monday.

When to see us straight away

• Significant pain that does not ease after a few days or after taking pain relief as advised.
• Gums that are swollen, bleeding heavily or smell bad despite careful brushing.
• An ulcer on the cheek or lip that has not healed after a week.
• A wire that has cut deep enough to bleed, or a swallowed piece of the appliance.

The specific care routine depends on your appliance, so follow the instructions given when it was fitted. See our orthodontics page or book a check-up by hotline 0928 888 121, Zalo or the Mini App if something needs looking at.