Precondition of the birth of a wonderful smile is the entire understanding between you and your dentist. Your dentist can do anything for you just as long as you are in the dental surgery, but it is your duty to ensure in the rest of time that treatment might continue smoothly. The most important is to keep your teeth and gum clean – also when you are not under treatment. But when treatment has started, keeping oral hygiene needs a more empahsized care.

For instance a braces device in your mouth may be the source of plaque formation.

If you wear such, take a little extra time for cleaning your teeth. Use special tooth-brush, dental floss, tooth space cleaning tooth-brush which can be helpful in maintaining oral hygiene. If you wear removable orthodontics device, it can be cleaned by tooth-brush, tooth paste and special tablets. You can find detailed guide below how to maintain the cleanness and health of your mouth and braces.

It is important to maintain oral hygiene during and after dental treatment.

Teeth and mouth care

  • The right technics of teeth brushing

In lack of brushing plaque shall deposit on the teeth and the gum surface from the saliva, the bacteria, the food leftovers and other dissolved substances in saliva. If this plaque is permanently present on the tooth surface, the acid-forming bacteria accumulates causing caries. Regular and thorough brushing is also indispensable. There exists no rule in what sequence we have to brush the individual teeth surfaces. The best way is to work out a system for ourselves and follow it everytime, so not one of the teeth surfaces shall remain unbrushed. Let’s grip the tooth-brush, but take care not to push it on the teeth with too much force. Let’s pass all the teeth surfaces in the lower and upper denture with circular movements. Avoid the powerful, horizontal scrubbing because as a result of this the gum shall draw back and horizontal stripes appear on teeth surfaces from the brush. These cavities are ideal deposition spaces for the plaque. The inner surfaces should be cleaned with the sweeping technics. Brush should be placed on the teeth that it should partly cover the gum then following the masticatory surface let’s make it free from plaque. These sweeping movements should be repeated ten times per section. For the sake of perfect mouth care the evening tooth brushing should be followed by the use of dental floss and mouthwash, because brush is sufficient to clean the inner and outer masticatory surfaces only.

  • Cleaning the braces

If you wear fixed braces for the first sight it seems to be difficult to remove plaque from the teeth and the gum, but you just need a short practice to find the perfect method. You have to take care not to let a single outer or inner teeth surface out and don’t miss the masticatory surface and the backside of teeth. Finally wash the surrounding of the braces, first up-and-down then inversely. It is important that the bristles of the brush intrude into the gaps between teeth and wires. Don’t forget the spaces under the wires – they have to be cleaned as well. It is also important not to forget the space between the braces and the gum. Your movements should be smooth and take care not to hurt the holders and wires. Then rinse thoroughly with water. After this examine meticulously your teeth and braces if they are bright enough. Use interdental brush and dental foss! See below:

  • Cleaning of removable devices

In this case teeth care is much more simple, because when we have removed the braces, we can brush our teeth and use dental foss like in normal case. The gum area covered by braces should be cleaned carefully if you are using such kind of braces. Wash the braces device with tooth-brush and tooth-paste then rinse it thoroughly with plenty of water. The cleaning of braces have to be performed every day and it is to be put into a cleaning soution every 3-4 days. Tablets obtained in pharmacy have to be solved in water and let rest for 10 minutes. It may occur that calc-like substance shall be deposited on the device. In such case a good solution is to soak the device in vinegar. After both cleaning method a thorough washing and drying process is necessary.

Oral care products

  • Selection of brushes

The ideal brush has a little head and a rounded edge, because the brush has to reach even the farest point of the last teeth, too. Furthermore it is also important that brushes be of medium or soft fibre strength, since hard bristles combined with incorrect cleaning method shall guarantee cervical wear. It is also an advantage if bristle ends are rounded, the handle of brushes flexible with a bending head, because these characteristics also promote gentle teeth brushing. Brushes have to be replaced minimum every 3 months since bristles get worn during this period and their efficiency shall be reduced. The replacement of brushes is especially justified if its fibres bend in differnet directions. Those who wear braces are recommended to choose special teeth-brush. These have a V-profile bristle and so they are able to clean teeth even below and above the wires of braces.

  • Interdental cleaning brushes

Using interdental cleaning brushes you may thoroughly clean spaces where normal brushes have few access only or no access at all. Gaps between teeth are important to clean, since these are ideal spaces where caries are formed and the periodontal disease without noticing it. Removing plaques can best be performed with these small spiral-like devices which are cleaning simply and smoothly. By their everyday use gum-blooding and unpleasant breath can undoubtedly be reduced within a few days. Use interdental brushes of different size to reach different places. Push it into the gap then pull it out. This procedure doesn’t need to be repeated.

  • Use of dental foss

Dental foss is applied to clean the gaps between teeth. Using them – besides the fact that food restovers can perfectly be removed – it can be achieved that fluor in the water and teeth pastes should access into the teeth. Slightly move the foss between your teeth so that they contact the tooth surface. Rub all the teeth separately up and down to remove plaque but take care not to hurt gum. In case of fixed braces device the foss should be led  between the gum and gum-side. Blooding during the use of dental foss can be attributed to the inflammation of gum, or the not ordinary, rough use of the foss. Using it frequently and correctly the inflammation of gum shall soon be ceased. On prothesis food restovers remain better, so cleaning with dental foss is not too important in such cases.

  • Mouth irrigator

When somebody has undergone a serious periodontal disease or a periodontal operation, there may exist wholes between teeth which are almost impossible to clean with the above listed devices. The same applies for those who wear sticked braces device where hardly accessible and cleanable surfaces are formed between the wires. Mouth irrigator is recommended especially for them, but with the highest care only! The power of water jet is to be adjusted on a lower level and never direct the jet in the direction of the gum, because it may force the plaque under the sticking line and may cause inflammation. When the gap for cleaning is big enough, then a water jet of lower intensity is also able to wash it out.

  • Use of dental foss

Mouthwash or mouth irrigator is a fluid serving the hygiene of teeth and mouth. It has a fertilizing effect, so destroying the bacteria and virus it helps us to prevent caries, inflammation of the gum and prevent bad breath as well as the formation of plaques. After thorough teeth brushing it is useful to use irrigator since it is promoting the soundness of mouth bacteria flora – in case we don’t irrigate it with clean water and agents remain in the surroundings of the teeth. Although the majority of them ensure a pleasant, fresh breath, it can never be applied instead of teeth-brushing. Appr. 15 ml of mouthwash is recommended to rinse with closed mouth for about one minute in the same way as we do it when brushing our teeth. It is suggested to wash out the backside of the mouth, too as if you would gargle.

  • Toothpaste

Toothpastes consist of material promoting the mechanical cleaning of teeth. The paste or gel form material helps to remove food restovers, dental plaques from the tooth surface, removes or ceases bad breath. The antibacterial component of toothpastes is the Xylitol, which inhibits the formation and reproduction of bacteria causing gum inflammation. The improvement of efficiency is aimed by other supplementary substances (like zinc, fluorid, triclosan, etc) which have an effect of direct chemical plaque reduction. Fluor is an important component of toothpastes. It is replacing the hydroxiapatite content of teeth with fluorapatite content which is not only stronger, but also resists caries.

  • Plaque painting tablets

The yellow-white colour of plaque looks like the colour of teeth, therefore it is not easy to recognize it with naked eyes. Mapping the plaque to be formated on teeth we can use plaque painting tablets and solutions which paint this strong adhesive layer red, purple or yellow. Plaque paitning may help us controlling the efficiency of our teeth cleaning technics. Let’s chew a plaque painting tablet after teeth-brushing in a way that it should possibly reach the entire teeth surface then after rinsing let’s observe which teeth show discoloration and where exactly. If we find discoloration on our teeth, let’s wash our teeth again until colours shall be eliminated from their entire surface. Few occasions are enough to map and cease our mouth hygiene deficiencies.

  • Tongue scraper

The tongue scraper is an indispensable means of overcoming unpleasant breath. For forming part of the mouth problems the tongue plaque is responsible, because in course of the night detoxification human organ gets free from part of the toxines through the tongue. Without mechanical cleaning the plaque and its toxic substance returns to the tract in the process of dailiy nutrition. This can be avoided by the regular, daily use of the tongue scraper. It is not suggested to use brushes for this purpose, because bacteria hiding in the bristle can easily be located there.