The day your braces come off is an exciting one, both for patients, and for orthodontists, too! Here's what to do after your braces come off to keep your new smile straight and healthy.
The braces removal process is fast, and causes little to no discomfort. Your orthodontist will carefully remove the braces, as well as any bonding cement that remains.
Our team at Greater Vancouver Orthodontics gets almost as excited about this process as our patients do! We love seeing the outcome of the previous months or even years of treatment. And best of all, we love seeing our patients’ happy faces when they see their straight new smiles totally unobstructed for the first time!
But this doesn't mean that treatment has come to an end. Now that the braces are off, the maintenance portion of your treatment begins. There are multiple elements to maintaining your new smile, including the following:
Retainers
After your braces come off, you’ll have to wear a retainer either full time or part time for a year, and then intermittently thereafter. This allows your teeth to settle into their new positions, and become firmly set in place. If you don’t wear your retainer as prescribed, you run the risk that your teeth will shift and become misaligned again.
Regular Dental Check Ups
Going to the dentist regularly and consistently is fundamental to maintaining a healthy smile. Following your orthodontic treatment, you’ll have to continue seeing your dentist on a regular basis, and visiting your orthodontist regularly too, so that we can monitor your smile and make sure excellent results are maintained.
Good Oral Hygiene
Continuing the rigorous oral hygiene routine you got into while you were wearing your braces is another important part of keeping your smile healthy for life! Take advantage of the habits you developed of being extra thorough when you had your braces by continuing them now.
Whitening
Many patients notice a difference in the colour of their teeth in general, and the spots where their brackets were attached. To add the finishing touch to their new smiles, many orthodontics patients consider having their teeth whitened to even out this colour difference.