My Cleaning Routine

I went for my first ever hygienist appointment this morning which I was SO apprehensive about because I have heard some pretty scary things about hygienists... but I'm pleased to say I had nothing to worry about. Maybe I'm just a weirdo, but I actually found it wonderfully relaxing and now my teeth are stain free and feel wonderfully shiny. I'm pretty ashamed about the fact I've never been before, I've had some nasty tea-induced stains on the backs of my front incisors since I was a teenager so I'm glad to be rid of those now.

Anyway, after posting a reply on archwired this morning with a condensed down version of my cleaning routine I thought I'd write a blog post to go into a bit more detail & show what products I use and all that kinda stuff. Hopefully this might be useful to someone out there!

Now, I am not one of these must brush after every. single. meal. kind of people. Brushing 3+ times a day just isn't something I'm going keep up, especially at work where our bathroom is pretty small and I'm taking up a ludicrous amount of sink space with all my cleaning utensils for 20+ mins with people coming in and out - it just isn't happening. My dentist is happy with my cleaning standard thus far so I feel confident I am doing enough.

So, here is a list of all the products I use in order of daily use...

Morning

First, I brush for 2 full cycles with my wonderful Oral B electric toothbrush + floss action head

 Followed by a good swish out for a minute with Colgate Fluorigard - recommended by both my dentist & ortho for protecting against decalcification around the brackets and the dreaded white spots

 Lunchtime

If I have any particularly big stubborn bits of food stuck in my brackets or wires I will use an interdental brush:

 Otherwise a good swish out with water a few times after eating and that's pretty much it

Evening

Floss with Oral B Superfloss. This stuff is really really handy - it has a stiff end to make threading between the wires really easy.  I'm now down from 15/20 mins of flossing to roughly 5-10. Flossing with braces is not fun. I'm never complaining about flossing without braces ever again.

I also use these:

For my back molars, which do not have any brackets on and therefore are not restricted by archwires. I would highly recommend Plackers as they're much easier to use than regular finger-suffocating floss and they don't break or fray between tight gaps.

After flossing I will brush for another 2x cycles with my electric toothbrush.

Finally, I will finish with another 1 min rinse of Colgate Fluorigard. The bottle says to only use once a day but my dentist recommended twice, so I do as I'm told. I go through a lot of mouthwash.

That's it!

My first braces adjustment is just over 1 week away so I'll post my next progress pics in a week after my appointment x