Metal Mouth Message Board

Hey KK,

I always get a flouride treatment every year when I get my teeth cleaned. It consists of a mouthpiece, upper and lower, with a flouride gel put it in. Cherry tastes the best. But they leave it in your mouth about 3-5 minutes with a dental vacuum in to suck out the spit. Nothing to it.

I'm glad things are going great with you. I know what you mean about great oral hygene. I have become obsesive/compulsive with my teeth. I'm really paranoid about having food in my teeth. I rinse a lot and brush about 4 times a day, not to mention the nightly floss and rinse.

Anyway, I hope I was some help.

Later,
Michal

I also got one of these at my first dentist visit since getting braces. It's just like Michal described: a foam sprayed inside a mouthpiece that sits against your teeth for a few minutes.

My dentist also wrote me a prescription for a flouride toothpaste. I use that every morning too.

I have the fluoride treatment as well but mine is just a rinse of about 1 minutes...

The fluoride available at the dentist is much stronger than anything you can buy in the shops. But supplementing your fluoride treatments with a use-at-home gel is a good idea.

I personally prefer a mint flavour, if they have it. Either way it's a very painless procedure, more uncomfortable than anything having those big trays in your mouth! You can't talk for a whole five minutes

I don't need to get fluoride treatments. My ortho gave me a prescription fluoride mouthwash that I use at home. It's called Perio-Med and it's a concentrate -- $10 for a big bottle. You pump 2 squirts into the cap, mix with water, and swish in your mouth for 2 minutes (or however long you can manage; I split it up into 2 doses and do each for 1 minute). It's a high concentration of fluoride and also kills germs for up to 10 hours, so it's a great way to keep your mouth clean and maintain your fluoride at the same time.

Flora2006 wrote:I have the fluoride treatment as well but mine is just a rinse of about 1 minutes...

For me the fluoride treatment was a requirement before the braces were put on, but I haven't been told to have one since.
It was the same as what Flora2006 said though. There were no trays or anything... I just had to swish around some stuff in my mouth and spit it out. Quick and easy (didn't feel like it achieved much but it must do something!)

KK,
Congratulations on the excellent checkup. Now I will surely be a convert to the "Warm Salt Water Rinse" camp! My checkup was much less positive, so I need a good example like you. I know that one of my problems is that I don't rinse or brush after I have just a cup of coffee or tea. So, hopefully, that will be an easy habit to change.

KK,
Thanks for your response. I'm sure that a lot of it is genetic, so there's only so much that can be done to compensate for that. But, you're still a good example of things going well and a good example of how people with braces can support each other.

I'll raise my next cup of tea (with milk and sugar) to you.

With regard to fluoride treatments, my ortho told me that I would have to wait at least 7 days after my visit to the dentist to get my braces on because the fluoride treatment that they give you makes it difficult for the brackets to bond with your teeth. That was an interesting tidbit that I had not been previously aware of.

mm92280 wrote:With regard to fluoride treatments, my ortho told me that I would have to wait at least 7 days after my visit to the dentist to get my braces on because the fluoride treatment that they give you makes it difficult for the brackets to bond with your teeth. That was an interesting tidbit that I had not been previously aware of.

I had fluoride treatment the day before my upper braces were placed, at the suggestion of my dentist.

Apart from one bracket coming loose 3 days after, the remainder are fine. The one that came unstuck was attached to a crown and I understand that bonding a bracket to a crown can be more difficult than bonding it to normal teeth.