Ensuring Your Smile Is Bright Once the Braces Come Off

Braces can make your smile that much more appealing and yes, braces are a lot of work. This does not mean that your work is done once your braces are off. There is still plenty of work to be done by you to ensure that you smile continues to be as beautiful and aesthetically pleasing as it was the day your braces came off. It can be a lot of work, but the benefits you reap are amazing: a perfect smile. This brief article will serve to discuss a few ways to ensure that your smile is bright once the braces come off.

Take Care of Your Gums

One of the biggest problems with wearing braces is that people do not, and in some cares are not able to, take care of their teeth as well as they should. As a result, your gums can become inflamed and in some cases, you could even be suffering from the dreaded gingivitis. Once your braces come off, your gums might appear swollen and red, for a while. This means that you should be taking extra good care of them.

Make sure that every time you brush your teeth, you gently brush your gums as well. Make sure that you sort of lightly "massage" the gums. Do not be too vigorous with cleaning them, as this can cause them to open up and bleed in their sensitive state.

Schedule a Dentist Appointment

As with the same reason for the gums, your teeth may be slightly neglected as well, although this doesn't seem to be nearly as much of a problem as the problem with people's gums. In addition to taking care of your teeth by brushing and flossing at least twice a day, take into consideration that you may need to visit the dentist for a truly vigorous cleaning and check up.

Usually, a post-braces dentist check up should be scheduled almost immediately after having your braces removed. A dentist can clean your teeth in a more through going manner that you are able to do yourself and can also give you some helpful post-braces cleaning tips, to boot.

Retainer Diligence

It is absolutely imperative that you continue to wear your retainers after your braces come off. Retainers can be annoying way to top off your braces: after all of this time spent with braces on your teeth, perfecting your smile, you now have to wear these annoying appendages to make sure that all of that work is for naught.

Keep in mind that without your retainers, your teeth have the potential to move back to their original position, or, even worse, you can actually find them in a more compromised situation than that of which they were originally in.

It is imperative that you wear your retainers until you receive confirmation from your orthodontist that you can either stop wearing them or begin wearing the retainers in a far more limited fashion. Having said this, some orthodontists believe that wearing your retainers, at least at night, for the rest of your life, is the only sure fire way to ensure that your teeth do not move back to their original position. Although this may seem extreme, it might be the price that you have to pay in order to have an incredible smile.

Hopefully, through the help of this article and some words from your orthodontist, you have realized that your work is not done after the braces come off. Ensuring that you have a fantastic smile is a life long endeavor; contact orthodontic clinics near you for more information or assistance.