Hygiene and food

Eating

Always ask yourself the following 2 questions before putting food in your mouth:

• Is it hard? if yes, cut it before eating it. If it is not possible to cut (eg peanut crust of stale bread, hard candy ...), do not eat it.
• Is it sticky?suck on it or let it melt. If this is not possible (eg sausage, hard candy ...), then do not eat it.

List of forbidden foods:

• walnuts, hazelnuts, pistachios.
• hard and soft candies (caramels,Laughy taffy etc ...).
• popcorn
• chocolate squares (for addicts, let it melt).
• ice cubes.
• raw vegetables, apples and pears should be cut into small pieces before being eaten.
• fruits with pits should be pitted (cherries, peaches, apricots, olives ...)
• crispy baguette (do not eat the crust of bread), chips and fries overcooked.
• chewing gum.
• avoid biting pens.

How-To Videos

Oral hygiene (From an article by the French Society of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics.)

Orthodontics and dental hygiene
A priori, there is an opposition between the orthodontic appliance and dental hygiene . Indeed, braces  and other types of appliances can promote the accumulation of dental plaque, and make it harder to clean your  teeth . But in parallel, the orthodontic treatment  imposes an extraordinarily regular monitoring. The practitioner  and has an influence on the control of plaque by the children  teaching them a good brushing technique and monitoring its implementation.
Overall, children which are not in orthodontic treatment  and do not go to the dentist once or twice a year, usually are moniteres less than orthodontic patients that are seen on average every two months or even sometimes every four weeks.

We can therefore repeat the hygiene message many times and really teach them proper brushing techniques. Then when they come to really master the oral hygiene techniques , There are no worries for braced teeth . This is an advantage because even after treatment They usually keep their good habits and will maintain their mouth better than others children .
In the end, what seemed a technical risk for the dental hygiene turns into an advantage. We advise all our patients followed in orthodontics to continue to see their dentist for  cleanings every six months. 

Brushing

First, the toothbrush  is required. Brushing helps remove food debris mechanically. We suggest to start brushing with a wet brush without toothpaste and put the toothpaste in for a second round of brushing. 
Electric or manual? You can get a very good result in both cases. Some people find it more convenient  to use an electric brush than others, it depends. In contrast, manual toothbrush has the advantage of being  carried anywhere and can be easily used at noon after lunch. And why not use both depending on the time of day?

There are additional tools that can be used by people who wear braces such as small interdental brushes that allow to clean under the wires, or a water irrigator as "water pik" which allows cleaning around  braces and massaging the gums with a water jet pressure.
Finally, there is a very interesting tool called a plaque revelator. Available in pharmacies, the liquid selectively stains plaque dental , Which allows for a better identification of the areas to brush and better plaque elimination. It can be used before brushing, or after to control  the quality of your brushing once a week for example.