New Products for Orthodontic Care

Over the past twenty to thirty years there have been dramatic changes in the field of Dentistry. Orthodontics and dental hygiene have been a part of this revolution, keeping up with a constant stream of changes. The majority of orthodontic patients today are teenagers and most have some form of brackets and wires in their mouths. This presents many challenges to achieving good oral hygiene throughout treatment.

As a hygienist, I see these patients and the common denominator is that while they have been shown and know how to floss with their braces, most of them don’t do it. Of course they don’t do it! It isn’t very easy flossing teeth without hardware on them, and really across the board it can be difficult to get patients to floss, braces or not. Flossing is the best way to get rid of plaque buildup between the teeth. Brushing alone does a poor job reaching between the teeth. Braces are basically traps that hold food and plaque between the brackets and along the gumline. When plaque is permitted to lie continuously on the tooth’s surface, the enamel can exhibit the effects of demineralization caused by the acid waste products naturally present in plaque. This demineralization presents as white spot lesions and can rapidly lead to tooth decay in these areas if the condition persists.