Hygiene and Food: Rules and advice

Ask yourself the following 2 questions before putting food in your mouth:

✪Is it hard?
If yes, cut it before eating it . DO NOT BITE IT.
If it is not possible to cut it (eg peanut, crust of hard bread, stone, etc.), it should not be eaten.

✪Is it sticky?
Do not chew it.
If this is not possible (eg dry sausage, hard candy, etc.), then it should not be eaten.

List of prohibited foods:

✪Nuts, hazelnuts, pistachios.
✪ Hard and soft candies (caramels, laughy taffy etc ...).
✪Pop corn
✪Chocolate squares (for addicts, let it melt).
✪ Hard ice coming out of the freezer, ice cubes.
✪ Raw vegetables, apples and pears must be cut into small pieces before eating.
✪ Fruits with pits must be pitted: cherries, peaches, apricots, olives ...
✪ The crispy baguette (do not eat the bread crust), the overcooked crisps and fries.
✪ Chewing gum.
✪ Avoid biting on pens.

Orthodontics and dental hygiene
At first , there is an opposition between the orthodontic appliance and dental hygiene.
This is because braces and other types oforthodontic appliances can promote the build-up of plaque, and make cleaning teeth more difficult. But at the same time, the orthodontic treatment requires extraordinarily regular monitoring.
The practitioner thus has an influence on the control of the plaque of children by teaching them a very good brushing technique and by monitoring its realization.
Overall, children who are not on orthodontic treatment only go to the dentist once or twice a year, while the others come on average every two months, or even every four weeks.

Since we can repeat the hygiene message often, children can really learn good brushing techniques. Then, when they manage to really control dental plaque, there is no longer any concern for the braced teeth. It is even turns into an advantage because after the treatment, they keep their good habits and will maintain their mouth better than other children.
In the end, what appeared to be a risky technique for dental hygiene turns into an advantage. We recommend that all of our orthodontic patients continue to see their dentist for cleaning appointments every six months. Practical advice for good hygiene with orthodontic appliances. You can accumulate a lot of elements to achieve good oral hygiene, even if you wear an orthodontic appliance.

First of all, the toothbrush is essential. Brushing mechanically removes food debris. We advise to start brushing with the wet toothbrush but without toothpaste and put the paste in a second time. This controls the removal of debris better.
Electric or manual? We can get a very good result in both cases. Some people will find the electric toothbrush more practical than others, it depends. On the other hand, the manual toothbrush has the advantage of being carried everywhere with you and can therefore be easily used at noon after lunch. And why not use both depending on the time of day?

There are additional tools that people who wear braces can use, such as small interdental brushes which allow to clean well under the wires, or a water-jet jet like the « water pik » Which allows cleaning around orthodontic brackets and massage the gums with a pressure water jet.
Finally, there is a very interesting tool called the plaque revealer. Available in pharmacies, this liquid selectively colors dental plaque, which allows it to be seen and eliminated better. We can use the plaque revealer before brushing, or after to check, once a week for example.