A few helpful hints
Make sure you take care of your appliance, they are far from indestructible, and can actually be easily dislodged or broken if you don’t look after them. If you do lose or break your appliance, be sure to call your orthodontist and get an appointment straight away.
Sometimes a tie wire can get loose and start to poke the inside of your mouth. If this happens, gently tuck the wire back into place underneath the arch wire. Use a blunt object for this, like an ice-lolly stick. If you can’t get it back into place this way, cover it with a piece of wax until you can get to your orthodontist for proper treatment.
- It’s absolutely essential that you avoid eating hard foods like popcorn, nuts or tortilla chips.
- If you eat raw fruits and vegetables or hard foods like French bread, it’s a good idea to cut them into bite-size pieces first.
- Sticky foods are out too. Bubble or chewing gum, nougat, toffee and other sticky foods can loosen your bands and brackets.
- Be sure to keep foreign objects out of your mouth. Pencils, pens, fingernails and other objects can damage your appliances and damage the roots of your teeth due to conflicting forces on them.