People wearing orthodontic appliances should clean the appliances everyday as dental plaque also adheres to the appliances.
Cleaning removable orthodontic appliances
The user must take it out and clean it thoroughly to remove the dental plaque in the morning and before bed at night.
Cleaning removable orthodontic appliance:
Take
out the removable orthodontic appliance, use a
toothbrush and some detergent to clean every surface
of the appliance. After cleaning, the appliance
can be worn again.
Points to note: When the orthodontic appliance is not worn, it should be cleaned and immersed in a cup of water.
Cleaning fixed orthodontic appliances
It is rather difficult to clean the teeth with the fixed orthodontic appliance in place. People wearing fixed orthodontic appliances should pay special attention to their oral hygiene to reduce the chance of developing Dental Caries. You should clean your teeth and the appliance everyday in the morning and before bed at night as well as after each meal.
Cleaning fixed orthodontic appliances
1.
Firstly, brush the area between the orthodontic appliance and gingivae (gums). Then, brush the area between the appliance and the crown of the teeth.
2.
Finally, insert an interdental brush into the area between the tooth and the appliance to clean.
Flossing is difficult for people wearing fixed orthodontic appliance. Hence, superfloss can be used to facilitate the removal of dental plaque in the adjacent tooth surfaces.
Superfloss
1.
Push
the stiffened end through the space between the
teeth and the orthodontic appliance.
2.
Then wrap the floss ends around middle fingers, hold it tightly between the thumbs and forefingers of both hands, leaving about 2 cm of floss in between.
3.
Gently slide the floss into the adjacent tooth surface using a sawing motion.
4.
Wrap the floss around one tooth in a "C" shape, moving up and down to clean the tooth surface. Then wrap around the other adjacent tooth and repeat the cleaning.
