Metal Mouth Message Board

Hi everyone,
firstly I would like to say that I am not blwing my trumpet nor am I gloating, I just wanted to share something to keep us all going strong.

Before I started my treatment I was the worst person for flossing maybe 2 times a week if I was lucky and I only brushed 2 times a day with a manual brush.

usually when i would see my general dentist i would always be told " you need to floss more" or " you need to be more effective with your brushing". i was never made to feel like i was ever doing the right thing. In fact it was only my new dentist who asked me " do you know how to floss"? and to be quite frank i said "no! don't you just go up and down".

Nobody through any of the clinics i have visited over the years ever said that when you floss you have to go down the gumline.

"what a revelation"

So when i found out that i was getting braces at 29 with a new dentist and a wonderful ortho i decided that i would put every effort into my cleaning routine.

i invested in a waterpik and a new super doopa electric toothbrush. so braces on and ready to go.

I will admit the brushing and flossing and waterpiking is very demanding (given that these metal gates love to trap little goodies for us to find later). but i promised myself that i would just press on and do my best i could.

So I had my first adjustment and a checkup with my normal dentist as well this week and the verdict she said my mouth was lovely and clean, an orthodontist dream to see. it was then i breathed a sigh of relief, that all my retentative routine has finally got me somewhere, the brushing after meals, barging people from the good sink in the work bathroom and routinely excusing myself from the table when out to go and brush.

So I guess I just want to encourage all of us out there that find our routine so time consuming and sometimes just quite painful the hope that it does pay off, all the hard work we are doing will show the benefits.

i was the worst culpret for not flossing before braces and i was not looking forward to flossing with braces.

we all have days when we feel down, but all the hard work everyone puts in will pay off during treatment and after, and we are all on our way to beautiful teeth and lovely smiles.

so all the best to all my fellow brac-ees be proud and your efforts are not in vein.

I actually wonder now why I didn't floss more before braces. I have to sit down with a hand mirror between my knees to floss right now. I keep thinking without braces I could stand in the bathroom and take two minutes, or less, to floss. I really hope after braces I continue flossing nightly, because it'll be so dang easy.

Huggypillow i'm only at consultation stage, and flossing for me is a bit of a nightmare because my teeth are so crowded! So I guess when my teeth are eventually straightened out there will be no excuse!
It is true you start to concentrate on your dental hygiene when you get or think about getting braces..I guess your just more conscious of it!

ashesgap wrote:I actually wonder now why I didn't floss more before braces. I have to sit down with a hand mirror between my knees to floss right now. I keep thinking without braces I could stand in the bathroom and take two minutes, or less, to floss. I really hope after braces I continue flossing nightly, because it'll be so dang easy.

Hand mirror!!! oh my you poor thing i had to find a better way to get that floss in there, i used the little wire ties that come in with sandwich bags, i twist the floss round it (the inner of the plastic is fine wire) then i just bend it and push it under the archwire.

we have these in australia i imagine you are in U.S.A?

Huggypillow-

LOL! I was the same way! Notice the was is highlighted. Now I brush after every meal or snack. I have to- don't want to smile and be caught with stuff in my braces.

And like you, my dentist at my first check up after getting braces told me my teeth and gums were the cleaner than people without braces! I was thrilled!

Not sure if your ortho has given you any of these, they really help me with flossing- Gum Soft-Picks made by Sunstar. They come in little square packs with 5 picks per package.

My story is similar - except I was much much worse before braces. I never flossed, and I usually brushed twice a day, but sometimes I would go 'forget' and fall asleep before the night time cleaning.

I've been in Invisalign for 11 months (just finished, pick up my retainers this evening wohoo). During those 11 months I have brushed 3 times a day (after every meal), and at first I flossed 3 times per day until my gums were fully clean and used to it enough to stop bleeding - and then I reduced to flossing once a day.

My teeth are the healthiest they have ever been, and it is so much easier to floss without all those invisalign 'buttons' getting in the way that it doesn't even feel like a chore any more.

We only get one set of adult teeth. I intend looking after mine properly from now on!