Now that you have your braces, how do you take care of them? It's important for you to know how to properly take care of your braces throughout your entire orthodontic treatment.

Eating with Braces

For the first day or so, eat soft foods such as pasta or mashed potatoes.  Avoid tough meats, hard breads, and raw vegetables.  Before long, you'll be able to resume a normal diet again.  Please remember to protect your orthodontic appliances when you eat for as long as you're wearing braces]

Foods to Avoid:

• Chewy foods — bagels, hard rolls, licorice
• Crunchy foods — popcorn, chips, ice
• Sticky foods — caramel candies, chewing gum
• Hard foods — nuts, hard candies
• Foods that require biting into — corn on the cob, apples, carrots
• Chewing on hard things --for example pens, pencils, or fingernails.  This can damage your braces.  Damaged braces will cause treatment  to take longer.

Foods you CAN eat with braces:

• Dairy — soft cheese, pudding, milk-based drinks
• Breads — soft tortillas, pancakes, muffins without nuts
• Grains — pasta, soft cooked rice
• Meats/poultry — soft cooked chicken, meatballs, lunch meats
• Seafood — tuna, salmon, crab cakes
• Vegetables — mashed potatoes, steamed spinach, beans
• Fruits — applesauce, bananas, fruit juice
• Treats — ice cream without nuts, milkshakes, Jell-O, soft cake

General Soreness

When you get your braces on, you may feel general soreness in your mouth and your teeth may be tender to biting pressures for three to five days.  This can be relieved by taking ibuprofen (Motrin or Advil) or Tylenol.  The lips, cheeks and tongue may also become irritated for one to two weeks as they toughen and become accustomed to the surface of the braces.  You can put wax on the braces to lessen this.  We'll show you how!  Rinsing your mouth with a warm salt water mouthwash also helps.  Dissolve one teaspoonsful of salt in 8 ounces of warm water, and rinse your mouth vigorously multiple times per day.

Loosening of  Teeth

You may experience orthodontic related tooth mobility.  This is to be expected throughout treatment.  Don't worry!  It's normal.  Teeth must loosen first so they can be moved.  The teeth will again become rigidly fixed in their new-corrected-positions.

Loose Wire or Band

Don't be alarmed if a wire or band comes loose.  This happens occasionally.  If a wire protrudes and is irritating, use a blunt instrument (back of a spoon or the eraser en of a pencil) and carefully, gently push the irritating wire under the archwire.  Simply get it out of the way.  If irritation fo the lips or mouth continues, place wax or wet cotton on the wire to reduce the annoyance.  Call our office as soon as possible for an appointment to check and repair the appliances,  If any piece comes off, save it and bring it with you to the office.  If you have any problems or questions after hours call Dr. Coakley's cell phone and he will help you with any problems.  

Care of Appliances

To successfully complete the treatment plan, the patient must work together with Dr. Coakley.  The teeth and jaws can only move toward their corrected positions if the patient consistently complies with all treatment requests.  Damaged appliances and poor compliance lengthen the amount of time it takes to complete treatment.

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Playing Sports with Braces

Game, Set, Match — we have great news for athletes! You can still play sports even while undergoing orthodontic treatment! If you do play sports, it's recommended that you wear a mouthguard to protect your teeth and your appliance. Let your doctor know if you need help finding the right mouthguard for the best protection.

In case of a sports emergency, be sure to immediately check your mouth and appliance for damage. If you notice any loose teeth or appliance damage, please contact our office right away. You can temporarily relieve the discomfort by applying wax or rinsing your mouth with warm saltwater.

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