Post braces care

Like me, I guess most people would think that there isn't much things we need to do after we take out our braces but...I realise that it is not true! In fact, you really need to take care of your teeth after you remove your braces! Here's some tips and some personal encounters for anyone who is going to remove their braces!

1. Wear your retainers (forever)

Once you remove your braces, your dentist would have advised you to wear your braces 24/7 for the first 6 months as the teeth will start to shift (back to the original position in worse cases) if you do not wear your braces. Many people may think that it is not important to wear your retainers but here's a strong piece of advise for you. You must really remember to wear your retainers. If wearing it 24/7 is a bit tough as it was a bit hard for me to really talk when I wear my retainers, please wear it at night. 

Question is, do you still need to wear braces after 6 month? 

YES! The answer is definitely a yes. Although I have removed my braces for close to 9 months now, I still wear it every night. If I skip for a night, it gets tighter (means the teeth are shifting) the next day. So please wear your retainers every night. This is especially important for people who used to have gaps because a few of my friends teeth shift back to the original position (with gaps :( ) because they did not wear their retainers..so please wear your retainers every night.

2. Floss your teeth (if need be, use a water floss)

After you remove your braces, there will be a gap at the molar band area. According to my dentist, the gap will close automatically for most people. However, as long as the gap doesn't close, chances are, food might be stuck inside this gap. For me, my gap didn't close as intended. In fact, there is still a gap at the molar band area. 

Because of this gap, I suffered 2 episodes of gum infection and it was crazily painful. During the second episode, I saw 4 dentists before the 4th dentist finally realised that my gum was infected as I accidentally pushed a chilli seed into my gums, and this chilli seed was totally consumed inside the gum.

There are 2 types of floss you can use and this was what I found out after wearing braces.

1) Thread floss

This is what we usually use and because it is like a thread, it is good to floss teeth with no gaps. Also, I realise that after wearing braces, I am often sensitive to trapped food and that I must get every piece of food out. This thread floss is good. However, if you have bigger gap, it is advisable to consider using a water floss instead.

2) Water floss ( water pik)

I didn't know the existence of a water pok until I had the second episode of my gum infection. After removing my braces, because of how my teeth were like, I had a weird gap (shape of an hour glass according to my dentist) between my first upper molar and the teeth in front of it. As a result, it was really hard to floss my teeth. In fact, I had my first episode of gum infection at the same site before that. 

A bit on what happened during my second episode of gum infection. So what happen was that after removing my braces, from time to time, I realise that that area of my gum is especially sensitive. From time to time, I experience discomfort and pain in that area but usually it will go away. One day, after eating, the pain was excruciating. I thought it will go away but it didn't and it even gave me headache and I quickly went to see a dentist. The dentist told me that I was having gum infection and did some cleaning for me. She even had to numb my gums as it was too painful. After cleaning, she handed me an inter dental brush which can supposedly help to push out the stuck food. I thought it worked however, the pain didn't go away and I went back to see my orthodontist for advise. He then informed me that there is some food stuck in my gum and he will refer me to see a Dental Officer who would help to clear it up. However, I had an uninterested Dental officer who only did some simple cleaning and the gum infection issue did not go away. 

While the inter dental brush worked for a few days, it became more and more painful to use the inter dental brush. It got so bad that I had issue eating and stopped eating on my left side (where the gum infection is)and decided to visit my 4th dentist. To be honest, I was often skeptical about the dentists from this dental clinic chain as they are known to charge exorbitant price with mediocre service. However, as I was desperate, I went ahead. To my surprise, this doctor told me that something is stuck inside my gum and after some digging, it was a chilli seed stuck inside my gum. As my gum has wrapped around this chilli seed, 3 other dentist failed to realise that the gum infection was actually cause by this. She even exclaimed that I must have been in great pain for a while now since I have a chilli seed stuck in my gum and if she didn't use her dental equipment to do some poking and felt something inside my gum, she too could have missed it. (So yes, I feel really grateful to her).

What touched me more is that she explained that although she has managed to remove the chilli seed for me, there are bound to be next time as long as there is a gap. She then ask me to consider getting a water floss which is something that is close to what a dentist would use when we visit them as water floss can effectively flush out all the stuck food. However to achieve the intended result, it must be used in the right manner and I decided to get the water floss as I don't wish to get gum infection anymore because it is crazily painful.

Among the water floss available in the market, there is this brand called water pik which is probably the most popular one and the only brand available in singapore. To be honest, I was busy with my job earlier and did not use it as I wasn't having gum issues. However, as I start to have slight gum problems again (when food is stuck, gums get slightly inflame and painful), I decided to use it and I must say that this is a great product that can really help to flush out food particles that you cannot remove using thread floss or inter dental brush. So part of my cleaning regime includes using a water floss now and I highly recommend it to anyone who is having similar issues as me. :)

3. Using inter dental brush

Lastly, I use to use inter dental brush a lot when I was still wearing my braces. It definitely works better than a tooth brush as you can clean areas that are unreachable using tooth brush and it is actually hard to gloss your teeth. After removing my braces, I continue to use inter dental brush because it is a habit to use it haha. However, I realise that it doesn't really suit me anymore. Honestly, it doesn't really suit anyone unless you have really big gap between your teeth. Also, if you use inter dental brush when you don't need to, you may run into the risk of expanding the hole/gap between your teeth. So do not use it if it doesn't suit you.

Ok...thats all for today! :)