Metal Mouth Message Board

I'm getting braced on Tuesday morning!!

So, Monday I need to go grocery shopping and get any care items I'll need for the first few days.

What do you suggest for food?


What care items do you suggest? Special flossers, toothbrush, toothpaste, etc?? I already bought a little compact mirror to keep in my purse so I can check to make sure food isn't stuck in my braces.

Congrats to you and welcome to the club!

There's lots of information in the "new to braces" section of the site...this is just a small section of the FAQ

"Most people who have braces carry a little dental kit to help them in such situations. A dental kit should contain a dental pick, some floss and floss threaders, a toothbrush, and some toothpaste. A travel cup is also a good idea. It is easy to put one together yourself."

This is exactly what I had in my travel kit after I had my braces installed. When I went to the grocery I bought soup, eggs, yogurt, soft fruits like bananas or oranges...it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and my waterpik was a lifesaver until I got better at flossing with the threader.

Hope everything goes well on Monday and I wish you the best on your journey!

when I went to have my upper braces put on, the dr gave me a bag with all kinds of stuff in it - just like the stuff you need for your kit. I had a little bag at home to throw it all in and it just stays in my purse. You may want to check with the ortho and see if they provide any "goodies" for you. It was nice because it gives you the option of trying different products and finding which you like better ( for me it was the floss threaders) - Hope all goes well!!!!

Your ortho should give you the basics of a toothbrush, toothpaste, wax, floss, and floss threaders. I went a little more elaborate... my total haul:

For home:
Waterpik
Glide Threader Floss
Oral-B Vitality w/ Ortho Essentials Kit (the ortho essentials kit is available at smilox.com for a good price)
Colgate Sensitive Enamel Protect Toothpaste
Listerine
ACT (This turned out to be a bad idea... it's a long story; suffice it to say, I don't use it any more)
Chap Stick
Proxabrush

For work:
Pana-sonic portable irrigator
Plastic cup
More toothpaste
Toothbrush in a holder
Chap Stick
Portable Proxabrush-like things
A few strands of the threader floss
A Dopp Kit to carry it all in

For travel:
Same as work, for the car I spend the most time in, the same minus irrigator for the car I spend less time in.

I ended up needing Rincinol and Carbamide Peroxide drops to ease the raw cheeks, but not everybody will need that.

To Sirwired - Why no ACT? I use ACT so I am curious....

Hi! I've been stocking up on bananas, yoghurt, rice pudding, fruit puree (in the baby food section in my supermarket!), and made some vegetable soup. Rice is easy. Scrambled eggs are filling, and Super Noodles are also good, because you don't need to chew much. (I'm not sure if you're in the UK though). I would definitely recommend a travel care kit - I have a folding toothbrush, toothpaste, mini bottle of mouthwash, wax, ibuprofen and lip balm. And all in a pretty case, obviously :)

Good luck!

tfischer wrote:To Sirwired - Why no ACT? I use ACT so I am curious....

In some people (and apparently I am one of them), one of the ingredients, Cetyl-Pyrindium Chloride (CPC) can cause staining of the teeth. (CPC is a common mouthwash ingredient; it's a water-soluable antiseptic that helps the breath. The antiseptics in Listerine are not water-soluable, which is why Listerine has alcohol in it.) After only a month of using it the hygienist at my general dentist really had to scrape away at it. My general dentist replaced ACT with prescription toothpaste (1.1% NaF, vs. 0.24% NaF in regular toothpaste) and re-mineralization paste (GC MI Paste Plus.)

Hi Tinkc,

Hope all went well on your braceday! I just wanted to mention that I used slimfast shakes alot. Especially the first week, because it was such a pain to eat anything semisolid.

Workingmomma

Thanks for all the info.

@workingmama - yeah, eating is proving to be somewhat difficult. I'm starting to think I'm going to lose 20lbs without much effort just from having these braces on. Actually, it's not too bad except I have these 2 bite turbos right behind my two front teeth. It's like two sharp plastic forks sticking down from the roof of my mouth. Nearly impossible to talk and I've only ate a large milkshake so far today. Counting down the days until those can be removed. Other than that, I really have no other complaints.