The thought of getting that perfect smile after you complete your braces treatment is indeed exciting. However, as thrilling as it is, you should be aware that the road to getting that smile is not necessarily an easy one for some people.
If your goal is to achieve that delightful set of teeth, then you’ll have to work hard for it. To help you throughout your journey, we have prepared a list of things that you shouldn’t be doing when you’re undergoing orthodontic treatment with appliances like ceramic braces in Singapore.
- Chew on ice or sticky food
Chewing on ice itself is already bad enough for your teeth, with many problems like cracked and chipped teeth arising, but doing it with your braces on is a million times worse. When you bite down on a piece of ice, you are creating the possibility of breaking off a bracket or even causing your wire to bend. The pain can be pretty excruciating, and you might even need to fork out more money into an additional set of braces after damaging your current one.
Anything chewy like gum will cause the food to stick onto your teeth, eventually sticking onto your braces as well; this means that your wires and brackets, or even the bands around your molars can get pulled, dislodged and damaged. By chewing on such foods, you are putting stress and strain on your brackets, bands and wires over and over again, causing them to move out of alignment, warp or even break.
- Forget to floss or not floss at all
Once you forget to floss, you can potentially create serious problems that can be detrimental for both your braces and teeth itself. Naturally, there will be food debris and particles stuck between your teeth each time you finish your meal or snack, and once they mix with bacteria you are letting the plaque eat away at your enamel, weakening your overall oral health.
Flossing with your braces is easier said than done, but when you neglect this crucial step, you are eventually exposing yourself to a lot of potential oral diseases and damage to your teeth. So, no matter how ‘troublesome’ it may seem, any fixed braces instalment in Singapore that you decide to get will require you to floss your teeth, so don’t skip this step.
- Not taking out your plastic aligners while eating
If you are planning to take the clear plastic aligners route, you should know that before you start on your meal, you should take out your aligners before eating. Otherwise, they can get filthy and distorted as you chew or bite into your meal. Furthermore, it creates a higher chance of them snapping and breaking too. It can get pretty painful if they are deformed, and in worse cases, you might even swallow one or two pieces of plastic. That’s not exactly a pretty outcome.
- Drink carbonated or sugary beverages
Regardless of whatever treatment that you get, a good orthodontist in Singapore will definitely tell you that you should avoid drinking any sort of beverages that are high in sugar. When you consume too much sugar, carbonation and acid, it can actually cause damage to the tooth enamel around your brackets. This happens because bacteria turn the sugar into acid, which then attacks the enamel and removes calcium, resulting in decalcification or decay. This may appear as white spot lesions or brown discoloured enamel. In more serious cases, cavities form on the enamel surface, initially as pits, and later as huge craters.
Using your teeth as tools
Some of you may have formed some bad habits since young, and some of these may involve the use of your teeth. Whether it is to tear open that packet of tidbits, or open drink bottles, you should know that doing any of these with your teeth might cause your wire to bend or even chip or break your braces.
To prevent your braces from receiving any damage or harm, you should kick these bad habits and just simply use your teeth for its original purpose of mastication.
Though there are quite a few restrictions involved when it comes to wearing braces, once you bear with the entire process, you will be rewarded with a beautiful smile at the end of the treatment.
Location
10 Sinaran Drive, #11-18
Novena Medical Centre
Singapore 307506