If you have braces, you need to make sure that you keep your teeth clean. Keeping your teeth both clean and healthy will ensure that they move more rapidly, which can reduce the amount of time it takes for the full treatment to be completed. The state of your teeth may add or detract months from the time it takes to move your teeth into the perfect position.

Unfortunately, cleaning your teeth is significantly more difficult when you have braces. There are both wiring and brackets that can easily get in the way. You also need to be careful that you don’t damage these parts of the brace. If you damage any area like this, then the braces will no longer provide the benefits that you need. Even a minor amount of damage could cause your teeth to go completely off course if left untreated.

That said, you still need to make sure that you are flossing. Flossing will ensure that areas between the teeth are kept clean. Food residue can build up here and this is more common when you have braces because it’s easier for food to get trapped. Here’s how to floss the right way.

Use Waxed Floss

One of the issues with flossing your teeth is that it is possible for the thin, string to get stuck and caught on either the brackets or the wire.

When this happens, it’s likely that you will find you have issues getting your teeth clean.

You can easily avoid this with waxed floss.

This provides a covering which ensures that the floss is less likely to get stuck in your braces.

The length of floss that should be used is actually an area of great debate.

You should think about selecting a piece that’s between 30 and 40 cm long.

This will provide more than enough length to get all the sides of your teeth cleaned.

Move The Floss Behind The Wire

One of the mistakes you can make when flossing with a brace is not inserting it behind the wire.

If you don’t do this, you are going to miss a significant fraction of the tooth that needs to be cleaned.

This is actually the area where the residue is most likely to build.

To avoid this issue, ensure you are threading the floss over the wire of the brace.

You can then pull a couple of inches through without putting pressure on the wire itself.

This will ensure that you are able to clean all of the gaps easily without impacting on the brace itself.

Floss The Right Way

Move the floss between your teeth.

When you have moved the floss behind the wire of the brace, you can then begin to floss.

To do this, you need to move the floss through the gap in your teeth and then push up, sliding it back and forth across the gap.

If you have done this before, then you should feel minimum resistance.

“The state of your teeth may add or detract months from the time it takes to move your teeth into the perfect position.”

If however, this is your first time, it might take a couple of minutes before you get rid of the residue.

Be aware that the gap between the teeth can be quite tight.

This is completely normal and you still need to make sure you are flossing areas like this.

There is also a chance that your gums bleed after flossing for the first time.

Again, this can be normal and will likely subside after you have completed this process a few more times.

Make Sure You Floss Each Tooth

When you are flossing you need to make sure that you don’t miss any of your teeth.

When you have braces this can be quite difficult as there are always going to be ones that are hard to access.

However, it’s important to take your time to ensure that you don’t miss any residue or plaque.

Flossing is more than meets the eye

When you floss it’s possible that you see little to no impact.

When flossing with braces, people often expect the floss to come out of their mouth completely discoloured and covered in residue.

If it doesn’t look like this when you’re finished, then this is the best outcome.

However, it doesn’t mean that flossing hasn’t had an impact or that you should stop.

Flossing is also done to remove plaque.

This can be invisible but could cause serious damage to your teeth if left unchecked. Flossing can help ensure that you avoid this issue.

Conclusion

We hope this helps you understand the best way to floss when you have braces and the importance of flossing.

Do this and you will be able to keep your teeth clean and healthy throughout your treatment.