Metal Mouth Message Board

My braces are still fairly new (almost 3 months in) and at my new job I find I'm drinking coffee all the time. Originally I wanted to avoid it because I didn't want to stain my teeth around the brackets, but I find myself giving in and thinking of all the ways of whitening when the metal is out.

Until then I have been doing some maintenence to keep the staining to a minimum. I brush 2 to 3 times a day at least once VERY thoroughly so there isn't much staining through other means, and my more recent discovery was baking soda. Just a little bit with the tooth paste every now and then and it seams to keep the staining at bay.

However, I read today on line that baking soda can actually disolve bracket glue!! Is this true?! Has anyone else had experience with baking soda and braces, or staining for that matter?

the only encounter I've had with baking soda and bracets is when I get my 3 month cleanings at the dentist but I never thought that baking soda would actually be a bad thing for the glue, would you be able to post the link for what you have found about the baking soda and the glue?

would you be able to post the link for what you have found about the baking soda and the glue?

Here's the site, and it's under the "take caution" header.

http://www.whiterteethwhitening.com/200 ... teeth.html[/quote]

oops, I accidently put a quote dealy on the end of that link so you can't just click it... Here it is cleanly

http://www.whiterteethwhitening.com/200 ... teeth.html

Doesn't sound right. At all.

It's acidic properties are so minimal you can "eat" and drink it alone without worry. Hardly strong enough to disolve orthodontic glue.

That statement exists no where else other than everywhere the party repeats it

http://www.google.com/search?q=Baking+s ... ontic+glue

Besides Arm and Hammer toothpaste uses it in the same fashion as their home remedy as do dental hygenists to sand blast your teeth clean.

Don't worry about it.

My dental hygienest uses a baking soda solution that she jet blasts onto my teeth to polish them. It makes them super white. And my bracket glue has not dissolved off. I get this done every 6 months. I also use baking soda occasionally to re-whiten if I've drank a lot of coffee or wine etc.

Alright, that's what I suspected but I figured I'd best double check since my ortho is 2 hours drive and a day off of work away Thanks!!

Autumn,
I have been using a mixture of baking soda and 3% peroxide to make a toothpaste for the better part of 25 years! I have NEVER had a problem! My Grandfather, God rest his soul, recommended the mix to me when I was just a kid, I've used it ever since. Just be sure to thoroughly rinse your mouth out after with water to neutralize any remaining peroxide. For God sakes don't swallow it! It tastes terrible, but works like a charm for clean, white teeth!
JOHN

I don't think this is a concern...I believe all hygienists use the "baking soda gun" to clean braces. If this was truly valid, I believe it would be well known by any practicing general dentist.

FWIW, I had a cleaning 3 weeks ago and I haven't had any brackets pop off, nor do any of them feel loose.

No, the whitener will not get behind the bracket and your teeth will not be evenly white. There will be an unbleached spot where your bracket is. It's best to wait until your braces come off.

I can't believe that there's any way that baking soda would whiten my teeth SO much around my brackets that they'd have noticebly darker spots where the brackets were. Thats actually why I'm only using baking soda.

The abrasive they used to "rough up" my teeth when they put the brackets on had my teeth a pretty good shade, and my coffee drinking habits, have tinted them, so the baking soda prevents them from staining too much, it's more of a preventitive for having lighter spots under my brackets where the coffee hasn't touched.

I figure the difference will be pretty small, and yes when I get my braces off I'll probably have my teeth actually whitened, so I can show off my perfect smile, and I suspect that process will undo any differences in tint.

I "believe" Daveintexas was asking about actual whitening, not cleaning with baking soda (that is how I read his question anyway), so when I talked about the tooth being whiter around the bracket, I was referring to the teeth being bleached around the bracket.

As I have already posted, my dental hygienist uses the baking soda gun on me. I wouldn't let her do that if I believed my teeth would end up a different color around the bracket. The baking soda just takes off all of the staining from coffee, etc. so they are a lot whiter.