THE Question - How often do you brush????

[Blake24]

Wow! So I don't feel as bad seeing as how most people here are in the same boat as I am.

ClassII: Thanks for the comments. I guess I became concerned when I noticed the glue staining, and though it will be buffed out after I am done with my treatment, I still notice it and wonder if other people notice it as well. I have the Damon 3's so I don't have to worry about the ligatures staining since I don't have any.

Brika: Thanks for the encouragement. It seems you and many others on here have used the "drinking through a straw" method to reduce staining. I think I will try that.

Rachel B: You seem to have this thing down to a science! haha! Hopefully I can become as regimented as you. I notice that I am getting better at it/more efficient at my techniques.

Like I said before, I brush waaay more now with braces than I did before without them...my teeth and gums have to be better off!

[blindboarder2008]

blake24: ya using the x mas tree brush after snacks and such sounds like a good idea, you could also try rinsing your mouth out really good after you have coffee or something, ya it was weird that the crest pro health mouthwash did that but i guess there are a number of mouthwashs that are kinda prone to doing that. i forget if scope was one of those are not, i'd have to look up the post again..

[dugsmom]

I brush every time I eat and drink tea, which is a lot! I think it's close to at least 10-15 times a day. I am trying to cut down on the brushing though...just messed up an area on my gums so that kinda freaked me out.


Jessica

[tinnygrinny]

I brush about 4 times a day, I think. Which equals out to be after breakfast/before work (with my rotadent interdental and the regular round head), after lunch (manually), after dinner (rotadent) and before bed (also, rotadent).

Before bed I do a fluoride treatment as well. I'm in search of a good mouth wash to use and I admit, I am not faithful with flossing. It is difficult for me! I'm planning to get up to speed with it soon, though.

[blindboarder2008]

tinnygrinny: i can definetly say that flossing is hard, i tried to floss when i first got my braces on but it didn't work, it was way to hard and time consuming to get the floss into every little tooth and it was hard to see so i'm using a interdontal proxy brush and a sulca brush in place and it seems to be doing the trick! plus my dentist said my gums are really healthy! so don't feel to bad if you can't floss, there are always alternatives if its to hard!

[TigerLily]

When I first got my braces, I brushed 3-4 times a day, now I'm back to twice a day.

My ortho insisted when I 'signed up' that I have a dental check up every 6 months and a hygienist visit every 3 months. I drink more coffee and tea post braces and my teeth get pretty stained before I go to the hygienist and she makes them pretty sparkly. I'd assumed that it was duet to tea/coffee not being able to 'wash' off the braces that made my teeth stained but she made the comment last time that the cement attracted staining.

[Clairey Fairey]

Brushed the same when I had braces as I do now, morning and night, the only difference is I used a special braces tooth brush.

No Staining.

Just had to be careful what I hate coz I had ceramics and white ligs which liked to turn yellow if I ate the wrong thing!!

[Mikee11187]

I brush about 13 times a week. So twice a day....there is probably only one day during the week where i dont feel like brushing at night .... But brushing makes me feel clean and good so I have to do it that often. I have a sonicare toothbrush and a waterpik and they are awesome

[belistic10]

i brush 3 times a day (after every main meal) and if i snack later in the night i will brush after that as well (so i usually dont eat between meals) my braces have no ligs so staining is no issue, but i only have 1-2 white coffees a day
i want to buy an electric brush soon to make that a little easier, but i just manual brush at the moment, use the little proxy brush thing as well atleast once a day (usually twice a day) and then use the mouth rinse twice a day, i do the flossing at night once the kids are in bed as its the most time consuming

[TumbleDryLow]

I second classII's post. I drank coffee with abandon during my 33 months in braces. I didn't cut down--no way that was going to happen. I drank my coffee (and tea, and red wine) with a straw and that kept the staining off the glue and the ligs on my front teeth. If I didn't have a straw, I just drank normally. Yes the ligs stained a bit, but I had no issues with the glue staining. My teeth were not two-toned when I got my braces off either. No offense to your ortho, but coffee is a weird thing to put on a no-no list. Just drink your coffee. Use a straw if you want to be safe.

[purplepetunia]

I brush an average of three times a day, after every meal whenever possible. I hate the feeling of having food stuck in my braces. I bought a set of dental tools like they use at the dentist (long pointy pick, tartar scraper thingie, and mirror) and I use those every night. My dentist says my teeth and gums are a lot healthier since I got my braces, probably because I'm cleaning them so darn much!

[Mauvaise]

I brush at least three times a day: once in the morning; water pik, floss, brush, the 'christmas tree' thing, and mouthwash after lunch; then again before bed I'll water pik, maybe floss a couple teeth if I feel something still stuck, brush, tree thing again, and then a fluoride mouthwash.

[AM21]

I brush about 3 to 4 times a day. In the morning, after lunch, after dinner and before bed usually. I have sort of slacked a bit and don't always brush before bed, might need to work on that.

[TWild]

2 times per day using an Oral B electric. My hygienist always complements on how good I clean even though I don't feel like I clean them that well. I quit flossing a while back :S Too much trouble. Anyway, 10 more days!

I am also a coffee drinker. When I notice light staining, I use a whitening mouth wash for a few days and it helps get them back like they were.

[SlimZippy]

I brush 6 times each day, basically after every time I eat anything. I use a super soft brush to minimize any gum damage. I started doing this in braces and have carried on braceless. I can’t bear to have an unclean mouth now.