Everyday Care Tips & Tricks for Orthodontic Patients

For patients being treated with BRACES:

Continue any elastic homework prescribed at your last visit.

Example: If you were asked to wear elastics between upper and lower arches, either night time (12 hrs/day) or full time (20-22 hrs/day), continue to do so on the specific hooks (brackets) prescribed at your last visit. If you are on your last elastic bag, please call the office for directions before running out of elastics. Please BRUSH, BRUSH, BRUSH! And floss too! Be extra careful to avoid hard or sticky food that could damage your braces or result in loose brackets.

For loose brackets or displaced wires:

• If you have a loose bracket: if the bracket is still attached to the wire, you can leave it as is (it may dangle on the wire - that's ok). If the bracket comes loose from the wire, that is also ok. Please use wax as needed for comfort.
• If your wire comes out of the last bracket tube: use tweezers to try to slide the wire back into the tube or tuck the wire under the bracket tube. You can also place wax over the wire end to help hold it in place. If this doesn't work, you can use a clean pair of nail clippers to carefully clip the wire and remove the poking piece.

For patients being treated with Invisalign aligners:

Wear your aligners as instructed at your last visit.

• If you run out of aligners: wear the last aligners you have until we can see you again. Contact the office and we can make arrangements to get new aligners to you. You can also reduce the hours to wear that last aligner (but no less than 12 hrs/day).

We strongly recommend that you do not drink or eat with any aligner but especially not with the last aligner since we don't know how long you will have to wear that last aligner (this will help keep them intact longer).

Continue to keep your aligners clean by brushing your teeth after meals before putting them back in and brushing the aligners themselves with a toothbrush dipped into mouthwash (or even water if no mouthwash is available).

For our patients being treated with appliances (expander/facemask):

Activate (turn) the appliance(s) as instructed at your last visit until you reach the prescribed activation (turn) amount and/or the day you would have been seen for an appointment to be evaluated. At this time, STOP turning the appliance until we can see you again to evaluate the necessity of continued activation (turning).

For our patients in retention (using retainers post-treatment):

Wear your retainers as instructed at your last visit. If your retainers break in two pieces, you can still wear both pieces until we can see you.

Please call or email the office with any questions or if you need any help. Feel free to attach any photos so it can help us give the best recommendation.

Sincerely,

Dr Haroun, Dr Tuli, and the team at Sherway Dentistry

416.621.4544

reception@sherwaydentistry.com


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