Brushing with fixed braces — how to make it work for children
Good oral hygiene is always important, but even more so when your child wears braces. With brackets and wires in the mouth, it’s even easier for food debris and plaque to build up. The good news: with the right tools and a fixed routine, it’s easy to keep under control.
Why cleaning is more demanding with fixed braces
Braces can trap food and plaque, which can lead to tooth decay and gum disease. Children and teenagers should therefore brush their teeth after every meal and floss every day. That sounds like a lot — but it’s mainly a matter of habit: if there’s a toothbrush in the school bag, it gets used at lunchtime too.
A point that should reassure parents: we use self-ligating brackets. These are smaller than traditional ones, which makes it easier for patients to maintain optimal oral hygiene. They can reach the teeth and the spaces between them more easily. In addition, conventional elastic ligatures discolour easily and can become a collection point for bacteria — our system solves this problem.
The most important cleaning aids
Floss with a threader
A threader is a flexible plastic loop that lets you guide floss between the teeth. Here’s how it works: push the floss through the eye of the threader, as if threading a sewing needle. Then guide the plastic needle under the archwire and use it to pull the floss between the teeth. Next, take hold of the floss with your fingers and move it as usual, pull it out and repeat at the next gap.
Interdental brush
A must for everyone with braces. An interdental brush is a tiny, cone-shaped brush designed to slip under the archwire and remove plaque and food particles from hard-to-reach areas around the brackets and between the teeth. You simply guide it under the wire and between the teeth.
Important: interdental brushes are intended not as a replacement for floss but as a supplement. They can’t clean the spaces between the teeth as thoroughly as floss and should therefore be used together with floss.
Water flosser and mouthwash
Many dentists and orthodontists recommend a water flosser. The gentle jet of water removes food debris and so cleans the spaces between the teeth. It, too, is not a replacement but a supplement to floss — it also stimulates the gums, which can be particularly helpful if the gums are inflamed. Mouthwash helps rinse food debris out of every corner of the mouth.
Electric or manual?
Electric toothbrushes remove more plaque in the same brushing time than a manual toothbrush. But that doesn’t mean you have to switch: a manual toothbrush can achieve the same results and a clean finish — it just takes a little more effort and longer brushing.
For children, two arguments favour the electric version: an electric toothbrush makes up for what a child lacks in dexterity and motivation. And it’s also easier for you as a parent to clean your child’s teeth with an electric toothbrush. When buying one, pay particular attention to the size of the brush head: the smaller the radius of the rotations and vibrations, the more precisely the brush head cleans. Incidentally, the same principle applies to manual toothbrushes.
The only thing that’s certain: if your child brushes their teeth twice a day with a fluoride toothpaste, it protects them against tooth decay. The longer the brushing time, the more plaque is removed. And: always clean the teeth inside and out, working systematically and thoroughly through every part of the mouth — then it makes no difference whether you brush manually or electrically.
The easier way: removable aligners
With invisible aligners, oral hygiene is much easier. The aligners can simply be taken out for brushing and flossing. This makes cleaning easier and minimises the risk of gum inflammation and tooth decay during treatment. Even professional teeth cleaning at the dentist can be carried out at any time during treatment.
The best way to clean the aligners themselves is to rinse them with lukewarm water. But you can also clean them with a brush or special cleaning tablets.
We’ll show your child how
Our prices include comprehensive training in cleaning and a range of tooth-cleaning aids that we order specially from the USA. So your child gets not just braces, but the tools to go with them. Book a consultation now or take a look at everything included in our packages.