Everyone here at
Scher Orthodontics understands that with holiday goodies everywhere you look, keeping your braces clean is exceptionally difficult this time of year. But keep in mind, making sure you properly clean your teeth is even more important when you have braces. Food bits have more spots than usual to hide in your mouth, so you must be diligent in order to avoid bad breath, swollen gums, discolored teeth and cavities. If you remove plaque regularly during treatment, you'll experience better results and shorter treatment time. Keep plaque at bay with these tips:
One tooth at a time. When you brush, take time with each individual tooth – at least 10 seconds each – and pay careful attention to the spots where your teeth touch your braces.
It’s all about the angles. Brush the tops of your teeth and braces with your brush angled down toward where they meet. Brush the bottoms of your teeth and braces with your brush angled up.
The tooth, the whole tooth, nothing but the tooth. While the front surface of your teeth may seem like the most logical to clean, it’s equally important to clean the inner surface of your teeth (tongue side) as well as the chewing surface. And be sure to clean along your gum line – a key spot for plaque buildup.
Step 1: eat, step 2: clean. While you’re in treatment, it’s important to brush after every meal. Bits of food can easily get caught between braces and teeth, and these food bits interact with bacteria in your mouth to cause decay. The longer food is in contact with your teeth, the greater opportunity for plaque to form. If you are eating somewhere that you can’t brush, thoroughly rinse your mouth with water.
Like a Boy Scout, always be prepared. The easiest way to be sure you can brush after every meal is to get in the habit of taking a toothbrush, toothpaste and floss with you wherever you go. Designate a special container just for your teeth-cleaning tools and keep it in your purse, backpack, or laptop case.
Remove the moving parts. If you have elastic bands or headgear, remove these parts before you brush or floss.
Fluoride is your friend. Fluoride helps prevent cavities. Be sure to brush with fluoride toothpaste, and rinse with fluoride mouthwash.
Pointy brushes reach tiny places. Interproximal brushes (sometimes called proxa brushes or interdental brushes) are cone-shaped and come in very handy for reaching spots around your braces that standard brushes can’t.
Find the floss for you. Regular floss works for some patients, but others find it easier to work with a floss threader, which helps you get the floss into tight places. Other patients like an all-in-one product called Superfloss, which comes with a stiff end for easy threading, a spongy section for cleaning wide spaces, and regular floss for narrow spaces.
Make time for the pros. It’s your job to take care of the everyday cleaning. But make sure to visit your dentist regularly while in treatment, to get the deep, thorough cleaning that only a professional can provide. If you need help finding the right Dentist for you, feel free to contact our office - we’d love to help!
We also encourage you to check out our
Braces 101 page on our website. We hope this helps!
Dr. Scher and
Team
At Scher Orthodontics, we embrace technology, whether it’s through the innovative treatments we offer, our high-tech web site or our Facebook fan page. As you can probably tell, we love connecting with our patients online, whether it’s by sharing news on our blog or communicating ideas on our fan page. For social media to work, we understand that conversation is vital, and that’s why we invite you to join in and tell us what’s on your mind. Although social networks are hugely popular these days, we know they’re unpredictable and ever-changing. 
Everyone loves fun facts. Fun, fun, fun. The American Association of Orthodontists, or AAO, has come up with some fun facts about orthodontics that our team at Scher Orthodontics thought you might enjoy. 
April happens to be National Facial Protection Month, and it’s a good time to remind our young athletes about staying safe on the field this spring. According to the National Youth Sports Safety Foundation, children, high-school athletes and adults will have more than 5,000,000 teeth knocked out in sporting events this year. By simply wearing a properly fitted mouth guard, these accidents could prevent this along with other traumatic facial injuries.
If you recently completed treatment at Scher Orthodontics, we’d like to congratulate you! Now that your braces have been removed, Dr. Steven Scher will provide—or has provided you—with retainers. After braces are removed, teeth can shift out of position if they are not stabilized. Retainers provide that stabilization. They are designed to hold teeth in their corrected, ideal positions until the bones and gums adapt to the treatment changes. Wearing retainers exactly as instructed by Dr. Scher is the best insurance that the treatment improvements last for a lifetime.
By now, you probably know the drill: Dr. Scher and team blog about important topics pertinent to orthodontic care and your well-being, including innovative orthodontic techniques we offer. This week, we thought we’d step back and ask you, our fantastic patients: what’s on your mind? What would you like to know about the always-changing field of orthodontics? What would you like us to focus on our blog? Perhaps there’s something you’ve been wanting to ask us for a while now? Let us know and we’ll try to answer any questions you may have!
Just when you think spring has almost arrived, you remember it's still cold and flu season. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, says that a common cold usually includes sneezing, runny nose, sore throat and coughing. Symptoms are known to last for as long as up to two weeks, the CDC says.
Keeping your teeth clean is more important than ever when you have braces, says Dr. Steven Scher. Food bits have more spots than usual to hide in your mouth, so you must be diligent in order to avoid bad breath, swollen gums, discolored teeth and cavities. If you remove plaque regularly during treatment, you'll experience better results and shorter treatment time. Keep plaque at bay with these top ten tips: 
February may almost be over, but did you know this happens to be National Children’s Dental Health Month? Each February for the past 60 years, the American Dental Association (ADA) has sponsored National Children's Dental Health Month to raise awareness about the importance of oral health. Developing good habits at an early age and scheduling regular dental visits helps children get a good start on a lifetime of healthy teeth and gums.
Dr. Scher understands not everyone is always thrilled to see the orthodontist. But we strive to bring you the best and most comforting experience at each visit. We’d like to know: What is it about Scher Orthodontics that makes you comfortable or puts you at ease? Is it something about our pleasant environment? Our friendly staff? Perhaps it's Dr. Scher himself?
BRRRR! It may still be chilly here in Westport, but can you believe we’re only a couple of months away from spring? Dr. Scher and our team want to know: What are you doing in January? What have you accomplished this year? Are you keeping up with your New Year’s Resolution? Any big mid-winter break plans? Anything exciting going on in your life?
We've blogged about the Damon System in the past, and just wanted to remind you about its benefits. With the new Damon braces, Dr. Scher is able to achieve terrific results and finish your treatment faster. Depending on your case, this may mean saving you many months of treatment!
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