My 10 year old daughter has had top braces for 8 weeks. I bought her a Sonicare tooth brush and she uses it twice a day. At school after lunch, she brushes most days when she has time with a regular manual toothbrush. She flosses every night with Oral B threader floss with the stiff ends. Sometimes she has trouble flossing the back molars, so I do it for her. She brushes with the Sonicare for two minutes, and afterwards I do a 30 second or so double check with a manual tooth brush. She has two loose baby teeth thrown in the mix as well, so we have to be 'careful' not to hurt them some times.
At her first adjustment appointment, the technician pointed out her back gums are very swollen. She said she needs to brush better. We have been very diligent and I thought we were doing a pretty good job at keeping her teeth clean!
We don't have a Waterpik (yet) but have started rinsing with salt water to see if that helps. Her gums are just swollen and aren't red or bleeding. I don't want it to get worse so any suggestions on how to combat this??
when my GD had braces, at EVERY appointment they said she needed to brush better. We, like you, thought we were doing a good job. It is really hard to work around the braces. I did get her a waterpik and it worked really well. I think with the waterpik and the salt water rinses, her gums will improve.
I had braces and they are no fun, especially in the beginning. I had them as an adult and I truly feel for the younger children who get them because they can be quite painful as well.
My Dr. gave every patient a Water Pik the day we got braces and told us to use it daily. It helps so much with extra cleaning in the areas hard to reach plus it kind of massages the gums which is soothing. I often added a salt or original Listerine to the warm water.
Sonicare is great and can also help soothe the gums. I love my Sonicare.
Keep being diligent with cleanings and help her learn how to manage it. It takes some time to adjust to the braces and new daily habits which have not changed.
Good luck.
If she's been brushing and flossing more since the braces, that can cause the gum irritation until the gums get used to it. You're probably doing a great job already. A waterpik is a good idea though.
Absolutely the waterpik will help. That thing does wonders! I got one when I had braces and it really made a difference to get all the "stuff" out, even when I thought I did a good job brushing. It takes a little getting used to so start on a low setting and work up to whatever is comfortable.
is her ortho a dentist as well? if not make an appt with the regualr dentist.
when i had braces i had one baby tooth and the gums around it got inflamed (even with regular brushing) and since the orthodontist was not a dentist i went to a dentist. he had me rinsing the area with peroxide followed by saltwater and then water 3x a day for 2wks. when that failed he had to pull the baby tooth and use an electric wire to trim the gums that were nearest the tooth.
I wonder if you/she might be brushing too hard/too often?
Sometimes it's hard to strike a good balance of clean enough vs trying too hard.
Salt water rinsing several times a day is good.
Our son's brushing improved a lot when we got him an Oral B toothbrush.
When he had braces it was tough for him to get under the wires but I found a toothbrush head for tiny places that worked wonders (he would switch between regular head and tight place head till his whole mouth was clean).
http://www.smilecareshop.com/products/braun-oral-b-ip17-2...
It's very hard to reach the back teeth especially for kids. I would think the salt water should help, but maybe start using some Listerine and a soft bristle tooth brush with a small head.
I would also have the dentist check out the back teeth, is it possible that there are molars coming in?
I have my daughter use the water pic, but just for hard to get to places between the braces. She still uses floss with the threader and just a regular tooth brush. I always brush them after her, just in case.
Does she feel food stuck in her teeth? That happens and sometimes even floss won't work it out.
Try going on youtube to see some suggested methods to brushin gher teeth. Let her watch it so she can do a good job herself.
It is very difficult to get around those braces & wires.
You might also consider asking her to gargle with mouthwash or pre-rinse with ACT or similar. My SD needed Rx mouthwash for a time when she was a teen. I would ask the dentist what you can do and what he/she thinks.
