What's your cleaning routine???

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#16 Post by **Guppie51** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 5:10 pm

Ive just recently gotten braces, but it is a bit of a hassle to brush my teeth everytime I eat (unless its soup or yogurt) but I have to, too much food gets stuck in the brackets.

Interesting some of you dont brush in the morning...why is this? to prevent sore gums?

I have a waterpick which I sometimes put mouthwash in (ouch) and my ortho gave me a prescription for some flouride toothpaste which I use only at night, sorry I dont have the name as Im at work.

#17 Post by **shinyam** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 6:09 pm

Wow, Lucy, that is quite a rigorous routine. I'm not sure you need to spend so much time on your teeth.

Here's my routine:

Wake up, rinse with listerine, brush. (2 mins)

After lunch, I just rinse my mouth with water.

At night, I use one of those small brushes to brush between the wires, and get the gunk out. Then I use an electric toothbrush for a few minutes, rinse with listerine, floss, and then brush briefly with a manual toothbrush to get the listerine "flavor" out.

#18 Post by **ricardo2** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 6:14 pm

...Hey, no I'm not cleaning my teeth for 4.5 hours a day!! LOL!

....at least I don't think it's that long! (God help me if it is!!)

I don't eat breakfast, I've abandoned lunch and I no longer snack... so it's not as long as that!!

But, I still need to do all of that stuff for that length of time when needed, coz I STILL get decay/erosion coz of my medication/ acid reflux.

I don't want to be doing it - I'm sick of it, but I can't risk any more damage to my teeth....especially with the braces.

And yes, I would go to work if I could, but I'd still be cleaning my teeth excessively no matter what!!!

You lucky people who don't seem to clean that much.... I assume you don't get decay or have loads of fillings???

OK - conclusion.... I'm obviously an OTT cleaning freak that still gets decay!!! Guess some people are luckier than others?

Take care

THANKS FOR ALL THE REPLIES! Much appreciated.... interesting stuff!

LUCY xxx

#19 Post by **cookie** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 12:24 am

Lucyeloop wrote: Each morning & after meals & before bedtime:

Interdental brushes between each tooth/brackets - 30 MINUTES
Clean with Braun Oral-B electric toothbrush - 10 MINUTES
Tongue Scraper
Fluorigard Mouthwash
Fluoride Gel Treatment
Oral-B Superfloss between every tooth, bracket & nance - 45 MINUTES

The whole ritual seems to take almost an hour & a half every time!

Lucyeloop wrote:...Hey, no I'm not cleaning my teeth for 4.5 hours a day!! LOL! ....at least I don't think it's that long! (God help me if it is!!)

WEll, if the routine takes you 1.5 hours a time, and you're doing it (I presume) at least 3 times a day? Then thta's 4.5 hours of your time every day - just seems excessive to me (as does in fact a 1.5 hour tooth cleaning routine

Website · #20 Post by **alexa** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 1:00 am

I just flossed...somene give me a cookie!

...or, I guess I shouldn't have a cookie...how about a scratch n sniff sticker?

Alexa

#21 Post by **jcdamon3** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 9:49 am

Hi,

I feel sorry for folks that get decay even when they clean alot. Sometimes I think it just happens. If you have acid reflux you really need to get it under control because you will have other problems in addition to your teeth. I had it once and got it under control and it went away.

I would still not give up though. Flossing helps the gums whether or not there is dirt in there. I have quite a few fillings and a crown but haven't had a cavity in a while. Here is my routine.

Breakfast

Rinse with Conair Interplak ($30.00) , Brush, - 3 minutes

Lunch at work: Rinse with water, brush - 3 minutes

Lunch at home: Rinse with Conair Interplak , Brush, - 3 minutes

Dinner at home: Rinse with Conair Interplak - 1 minute

Dinner out: Rinse with water, brush - 3 minutes

Bedtime: Floss, Brush - 5-10 minutes

If it takes you 45 minutes to floss you just need to practice and get better at it. Use the Crest Threader floss. It makes things very, very easy. It is floss with a stiff end that you string over and under your archwire.

I floss first and then brush. I know some people do it the other way around. It's just that all that stuff coming out of my teeth, I feel like I need to brush again afterward, so I just floss first.

Skipping breakfast and lunch is not at all healthy. Your body needs fuel to operate. How can you possibly get enough nutrients, etc to heal yourself on one meal a day?

Hope this helps..

#22 Post by **Retrogirl82** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 12:12 pm

Hey, everyone!

Morning: In the morning, I usually brush my teeth for about 2-3 minutes, depending on much of a rush I'm in

I'll admit, I don't floss at all

I really should, I know. I also get the roof of my mouth and my tongue so that no bacteria lingers and gives me foul morning breath...eeew! Also, when I am using my brush, I try to give my gums a nice bristle massage

After meals at home: If I can help it, I do follow my usual brush routine as in the morning for after meals.

After meals at college/work: First, I carefully use a tooth pick to get out any excess garbage in my braces so I don't have a soggy smile...no one wants a soggy smile. If I am near a sink in relative privacy, I'll swish a bit to make sure I get all the gunk out. Unfortunately, I am not as duitiful as I was during the beginning of treatment, so I don't usually brush with a travel kit.

Night time: At night, just before going to bed (and after I have eaten all my sweets), I repeat my a.m. brush routine, but I follow-up with a 2 minute vigorous swishing of ACT mouthwash. Really makes me feel nice and clean!

#23 Post by **wating4braces** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 12:58 pm

My LORD! Are you sure you have a life? Sorry to be rude, but how does it take you thirty minutes to brush your teeth??? Three MINUTES is a long time for me. And you really should not be skipping meals just because you don't want to have to brush! Sry to sound like your mother, but I really would tone it down a bit. Sorry. Anyway, here is my routine:

MORNING (after breakfast): Brush for 1-2 mins.

AFTER SCHOOL: Eat and then brush if i feel like it for 1-2 mins.

AT NIGHT: Brush for 3 mins, dip a proxy brush in mouthwash and go in-between brackets and under wire, rinse w/ mouthwash, floss, and then use a perscription flouride gel. All of that takes about.... 15 mins at the most. It would take longer if i could floss at all! It is almost impossible to floss with these stupid expanders! And i only floss about once a week...

bad i know, but not as bad as excessively compulsively brushing and flossing....

#24 Post by **ricardo2** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 5:51 pm

Final word..... as per waiting4braces signature:

Normal is boring, yes it is!

I guess I'm abnormal and proud, but still with decay!!

(Wouldn't you guys go mad too if you still got decay DESPITE a lengthy cleaning routine?)

LUCY xxx

#25 Post by **wating4braces** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 5:59 pm

Ok, that was NOT applying to whether your cleaning routine was an hour and a half or 15 mins... ah well, have fun losing 2 lbs a day from not eating hardly anything.

Katie

#26 Post by **jenns91civic** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 8:59 am

Lucy, you can brush a gazillion times a day if you want to. If you have something going on causing the decay you are going to have to spend more time keeping your teeth clean. It's not a big deal and doesn't affect anyone else so I hope you don't let any comments bother you. I am very fortunate to be at the opposite end of the decay spectrum. I am very lackadaisical with cleaning, always have been, and have never had a cavity. Granted, 6 years with braces and lax cleaning and a loose molar band for a while, I think has given me a tiny cavity in that molar but with no insurance, I'm not sure.

Anyway, whether someone spends 0 minutes, 3 minutes, or 3 hours on their teeth, each person's teeth are just that, their own teeth. This board is meant to bring people together and critisizing someone on their routine is immature and rude. Her original question was "what is your routine" not "what do you think of mine."

<steps off her soap box>

Keep up the hard work Lucy, and best of luck to you in finding the right med or combo of meds for your GERD (that's what I understand to be one of the causes of your problems with erosion/decay anyway).

Everyone be safe this weekend,

Jenn

#27 Post by **wating4braces** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 1:30 pm

Ok... I wasn't really critisisizing... If it was any critisizing it was healthy critisizm... but whatever. I really do not see how it is healty to not eat anything but dinner all the time. I would gladly take tooth decay then be unhealthily skinny. I was just saying to her that spending 1.5 hrs on your teeth shouldn't be nescessary; but hey, make it into whatever you want to. I agree with cookie.

Katie

#28 Post by **wating4braces** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 2:58 pm

Yup, that's what I do. I don't look in a regular bathroom mirror, but I don't have a dental mirror either. I use a hand mirror with huge magnification on one side and regular size on the other. I also use it to floss. I sit on the toilet (with the lid down) and put the mirror on the counter instead of standing in front of the conunter and leaning over the sink for 5 mins while i floss. (It hurts your back after a while!)

Katie

#29 Post by **BraceFace13** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 3:37 pm

I brush, gargle, rinse, and that's it... I rarely floss. Not ones ideal routine.

#30 Post by **TuZZi** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 12:05 am

Wow...... and I thought I took a long time to brush! Before I got braces, I was easily spending at least 5 minutes brushing. Mind you, I was usually sitting infront of the tv or computer for those 5 minutes, so it wasn't the ideal cleaning, but it worked for me.

Since braces now, at night I take at least 10-15 minutes just to do the initial brushing with my Crest Spin Brush. I then take another 5-10 minutes looking around my mouth to see if there were any spots I may have missed, and usually end up scraping or manually brushing away anything left behind. I then floss with either Glide, or Oral-B Superfloss, which takes another 5 minutes, and follow that up with a rinse of Peroxyl mouthwash (for relief of canker sores, gum and orthodontic irritations, mouth burns, and cheek bites) or Amosan rinse (to help with tooth extractions, canker sores, or gingivitis) or regular mouthwash like Cepacol, or Oral-B. Eventhough it says not to, I always have to rinse with water after any mouthwash, as the Peroxyl and Amosan foam up and leave a not so pleasant taste in my mouth.

In the morning though, since I dont get to eat breakfast until after I'm already at work, I just usually do a quick 2 minute or so brush to get rid of the morning funk.

After lunch, if I have time I will brush at work, but most of the time I wait until after dinner to brush again.

Oh yeah, and my ortho told me everyone should be spending a good 8-10 minutes simply brushing their teeth each time, so I would go easy on the criticism... jjust because you can't handle brushing for more than 2 minutes, doesn't mean everyone else is in the same boat.

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What's your cleaning routine???

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