How Do You Maintain Braces

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Once braces are in place, maintaining them is important. Your orthodontist in Staten Island, NY, can help by providing advice and answering your questions about braces. In this article, we’ll go over some of the basics of maintaining braces, including how to clean them and what you can eat while wearing them. Having this information can help ensure that your braces will stay clean and in good condition.

How Do You Maintain Braces?

Maintaining braces starts with keeping them clean. Brush your teeth after every meal and every snack. This helps remove food particles that can easily become trapped in the braces’ brackets.

Use a floss threader to floss around your braces. Your dentist can show you how to floss around your braces using this tool. Floss threaders can be purchased from pharmacies and online.

Finally, be careful about what you eat when wearing braces. Sticky foods like caramel can easily get caught in the brackets, making them difficult to clean. Hard, crunchy, and crusty foods can also damage your braces. Whenever possible, eat foods that are soft, like pasta, oatmeal, mashed potatoes, and yogurt.

Need Help Maintaining Braces? Your Orthodontist Can Help

If you need help maintaining your braces, your orthodontist can help by answering your questions and providing you with suggestions for tools to keep them clean. Working with your orthodontist and following their advice for braces maintenance, you can keep your braces in good condition.

Need Braces in Staten Island, NY? Call Today

If you need braces in Staten Island, NY, call us today to make an appointment for an evaluation. Once you’ve been evaluated, we can schedule your braces installation if we determine that you need orthodontic treatment.

Why Retainers Are Important After Braces Treatment

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Anyone who has braces or has recently had them removed can tell you the joy at the prospect of not having an appliance on their teeth anymore. This elation is short-lived, however, after learning that braces treatment must be followed up by the wearing of a retainer. While wearing a retainer may feel like an inconvenience, it’s critical to the long-term success of the Staten Island, NY braces treatment. Here’s why.

Teeth Have a Memory

Teeth aren’t as fixed as they look. Once braces come off, the ligaments and tissues around them are still adjusting. They’ve been under pressure for a long time, and they naturally want to shift back to their old positions. A retainer stops that from happening. It holds everything steady while the bone and gums adapt to the new alignment. Without one, teeth can slowly drift out of place, sometimes undoing months of hard work.

Keeping Your Investment

Braces are an investment of time, money, and effort. Wearing your retainer is how you protect that investment. It’s a small step that saves you from needing future orthodontic treatment. Even if your teeth move just a little, it can affect how your bite feels or how your smile looks. Consistent retainer use keeps things stable and helps your results last for life.

Finding the Right Fit

Retainers come in a few styles—removable ones that you wear at night and fixed ones bonded behind the teeth. Your orthodontist in Staten Island, NY will recommend what’s best for your case. What matters most is wearing it as directed. A few minutes of routine each day can make all the difference.

A retainer isn’t just an afterthought—it’s the finishing touch that keeps your smile aligned for years to come. Think of it as the final, quiet partner in your orthodontic success story.

How Can You Help Your Child Adjust to Wearing Braces?

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Getting braces is a great way to correct problems that affect jaw alignment. But it’s not always easy for kids when they start wearing them. Our orthodontists in Staten Island, NY, at Salvatore R. Indelicato, D.M.D., P.C. offer the following tips on what you can do to help your child get used to having them on their teeth.

Stock Up on Soft and Cold Foods

Braces cause some soreness at first, so offering your child soft foods that are easy to eat, like mashed potatoes, is helpful. Cold foods, such as ice cream or yogurt, can also help soothe aches and pains.

Offer Orthodontic Wax and OTC Medicine for Soreness

Use this kind of wax on wires and brackets that are causing irritation to help protect vulnerable areas, such as the tongue and inner cheeks.

Show Them How to Brush and Floss

After getting braces in Staten Island, NY, your child will need to make some adjustments to brushing and flossing. We’ll show you how it’s done, so you can teach your child at home.

Encourage Smiling and Boost Self-Esteem

It’s natural for kids to feel self-conscious about having braces on their teeth. Remind your child that this is a common treatment for kids, so they’re not alone. Have them practice smiling and talking to feel more confident in front of others.

Discuss Food Limitations

Go over the foods that your child will need to avoid while wearing braces, like popcorn and anything that’s hard or sticky.

Visit Our Orthodontists for Braces

Does your child have orthodontic issues? Our team at Salvatore R. Indelicato, D.M.D., P.C. offers braces in Staten Island, NY, for children with alignment problems and other orthodontic conditions. We can provide additional advice for helping your child adjust to their new braces!

Can Early Orthodontic Treatment Eliminate the Need for Braces?

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Braces or clear aligners are a proven way to give your child straight teeth and an aligned bite. That said, most parents would love it if their child had a perfect smile without the need to visit the orthodontist for multiple months. If you’ve heard of early orthodontic treatment, we’ll look at the specifics of what it is and how it works to intervene before your child even gets all their permanent teeth.

What Is Early Orthodontic Treatment?

Early orthodontic treatment takes advantage of a childhood phenomena: when kids are young, their teeth and gums are more malleable than when they’re adults. This doesn’t mean that teeth can’t be tamed when you’re an adult, as braces can and do work at any age, just that it’s typically easier to manipulate the teeth, jaws, and gums when kids are younger.

Early orthodontic treatments will use services, exercises, or oral devices to adjust a child’s mouth, reducing crowding, introducing spacing, and gently bringing the teeth and jaw into order. For example, an orthodontist might teach your child special exercises to eliminate thumb-sucking, which can reduce the odds of growth abnormalities. Or they might remove baby teeth to create more room for permanent teeth (depending on their growth patterns).

Can Orthodontic Treatments Fix My Child’s Teeth for Good?

The results of early orthodontic treatments in Staten Island, NY ultimately depend on the patient. Some patients will see tremendous benefits, potentially eliminating the need for braces. Others may still need corrective treatment down the line, especially if they have a severe bite abnormality. The good news is that orthodontic treatment before the permanent teeth come in, ideally by the age of seven, can potentially reduce the time and the expense you’ll spend on overall dental care.

If you want to learn more about preventative care, contact Salvatore R. Indelicato, D.M.D., P.C. to learn more about our team. Our orthodontists in Staten Island know how helpful it can be to do everything in your power to help your kid live a better life. Early orthodontic treatment doesn’t just potentially save everyone grief down the road, it teaches your kids to address problems early — before they have a chance to grow into bigger hassles down the road.

Are Metal Braces the Right Option for Your Teeth?

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Wearing braces puts you on the path toward straight teeth and a beautiful smile! But which kind of braces should you get? Our orthodontists in Staten Island, NY, at Salvatore R. Indelicato, D.M.D., P.C. offer metal braces and other types. Let’s go over how to tell if metal is the best option for your smile.

How Severe Is Your Misalignment?

Metal braces are helpful for handling misalignments of all complexities, from minor and simple issues to severe ones. Other options, like ceramic braces or aligners, might not be effective enough for more complex cases.

What’s Your Budget for Braces?

How much are you looking to spend? Metal braces are among the more common options thanks to their affordability. If you’re trying to keep orthodontic costs down, metal braces may be the ideal solution!

Are You Interested in Customization?

Did you know that you can make some changes to metal braces to fit your style? You can choose bands in different colors, allowing you to modify them for a fun look. Other braces options don’t typically include colorful customization.

Do You Have Healthy Teeth and Gums?

Metal braces are a good choice for patients who don’t have gum disease or tooth decay. If you have these conditions, we can treat them before you get braces. Note that you’ll need to practice good oral health habits at home, like thorough brushing, to stop food from building up around the brackets and causing decay.

Schedule an Orthodontic Consultation Today!

Wondering which type of braces you should get? Our orthodontists at Salvatore R. Indelicato, D.M.D., P.C. can determine the right kind for your teeth. We offer metal braces in Staten Island, NY, along with other types to effectively straighten teeth.