Postoperative Instruction: Treatment for Braces Fixing

What can you expect from braces fixing treatment?

Every orthodontic patient goes through an adjustment period when their appliances are first placed. When wearing braces for the first time, the adjustment period can be the most difficult. For a few days, you can feel general oral discomfort and sensitivity while biting down on your teeth. Your lips, cheeks, and tongue may need a week or two to adjust to the appliances' presence, depending on the type of braces you have. Your orthodontist will suggest numerous treatments and advice to help you manage this brief discomfort. These methods may also be applied during any transient discomfort that may occur after future adjustment visits. Orthodontic wax and instructions on how to use it on a wire or brace that can be irritating will be given to patients using traditional braces.

Here are some postoperative instruction treatment for braces fixing that you must follow after braces have been installed:

• For the first week, it's important to pay attention to what you eat and make sure you take good care of your teeth and braces. Some foods, especially those that are hard, sticky, crunchy, or tough, can harm your braces. Habits like chewing ice, biting pens, or biting your nails can also cause damage. It's essential to avoid risky behavior and consistently break your braces because it can make your treatment last longer and affect the final results. Nevertheless, there are still plenty of tasty and satisfying foods you can enjoy while undergoing treatment, although there might be a few you should avoid. Just remember, maintaining a healthy and well-balanced diet is the key.
• If the bracket rubs the lips or cheeks, it is necessary to glue a piece of protective wax to it. After 3-10 days, the oral mucosa will adapt, and the discomfort will pass. Use wax as needed. If you swallow - it does not matter; it is bioinert. If a wound has formed on the mucosa, treat the damaged area first with hydrogen peroxide, dry it with a cotton swab, and apply dental ointment, sea buckthorn oil, and solcoseryl. But if it is the tip of an arc or ligature, you need to make an appointment.
• In the process of alignment, the teeth can hurt - by themselves and when chewing. This is a normal process, and the severity and duration of pain is individual for each patient. If necessary, you can take an anesthetic drug in the age dosage of Nurofen, baralgin, ketanov, nice, etc.). After a few days, the pain will definitely pass!
• Around the braces on the teeth, food debris, plaque, and bacteria intensively accumulate, which can lead to the development of caries. Caries never develop under braces! But around the braces - maybe quite. Excess carbohydrates (sweets, soda, muffins, cookies) increase the risk of developing caries! Therefore, it is necessary to reduce the intake of carbohydrates and pay special attention to the hygiene of the oral cavity and orthodontic apparatus.
• After each meal, brush your teeth and orthodontic appliances with a toothbrush and fluoride toothpaste. Before going to bed, special brushes and dental floss will help clean hard-to-reach places between teeth and braces. After brushing, your teeth and braces should shine! You can use an electric or ultrasonic toothbrush. We also recommend using anti-caries and antibacterial tooth rinses.
• It is very useful to use a home irrigator. Under pressure, a thin jet of water washes away plaque, food debris, and due to water micro-massage, the blood supply to the gums improves. You can use decoctions of herbs and solutions of antiseptics.

For the best hygiene control, it is recommended to get a professional preventive cleaning by a dentist every 3 months. If the bracket has become unstuck, then it must be fixed as soon as possible. In reality, this situation carries more risks than you might think.

• Firstly, the treatment time increases by several months since when the braces are peeled off, the teeth very quickly move to their original position, and you have to return to the weaker arches that were installed at the very beginning of the treatment.
• Secondly, the doctor has a rather tight schedule of scheduled patient appointments, and it is not always possible to find time for an unscheduled visit to re-fix the bracket, which takes from 15 to 30 minutes.
• Thirdly, you have to waste your time on an unplanned visit. To avoid all this, follow the treatment regimen prescribed by your doctor.

Braces don't come off on their own! Avoid excessive loads on the orthodontic appliance!!! You must remember that the effectiveness of treatment depends not only on the doctor but also on the patient. Following all the recommendations will definitely help you achieve an excellent treatment result!