Braces & Invisalign Care

Braces Care

• Hard foods may damage your appliances by bending wires or loosening cement under the brackets.
• Sticky foods may damage appliances by bending wires and pulling cement loose.
• Avoid foods high in sugar content whenever possible. If you do eat any of them, eat them only at the end of a meal and brush your teeth immediately. If it is not convenient to brush, then always rinse your mouth with water after eating very sweet foods like candy and soda. Damage to braces may result in treatment taking longer to complete.

Foods to avoid:

• Caramel
• Caramel apples
• All Sticky Candy including: Toffee, Now & Laters, Sugar Daddys, Sugar Babies, Skittles, Starburst, Gummy bears, Gummy worms, Fruit roll ups
• All Hard Candy including Jolly ranchers, Lifesavers, Peppermints, Lollipops
• Ice
• Beef jerky
• DO NOT chew on pens, pencils, straws or fingernails

You may still eat these foods, but please prepare them as follows:

• Whole crispy fruits & vegetable (cut fruit and vegetable into small bite size pieces)
• Hard, crusty breads (tear into small bite size pieces)
• Corn chips and potato chips (break into bite size pieces)
• Fresh corn on the cob (cut corn from cob to eat)
• Sugary drinks or sodas (limit to special occasions only)
• Meat on the bone (cut meat off the bone into small pieces)
• Popcorn (must brush and floss vigorously after, avoid kernels)SUGARLESS gum is allowed and encouraged to help with pokey wires if you are in a strong enough wire. Inquire with your assistant to find out if this applies to you.

Preventing damage to the braces

Patients that participate in sports that require a mouth guard should ask us for advice about an orthodontic mouth guard. In case of any accidents involving the face, be sure to check your mouth and the appliances. If any appliances are loose or damaged, contact our office immediately.

Invisalign Instructions

Congratulations on starting your Invisalign journey! We are very pleased you have chosen to trust us with transforming your smile. We hope these instructions help this process go as smoothly as possible!

• Wear your aligners for 20-22 hours a day to be sure all movements have been achieved.
• You may keep aligners in your mouth while drinking cool, colorless, sugar-free liquids. Anything hot or colored can distort or stain your aligners.
• Changing your aligners every week; unless you notice your aligners are not fitting properly. Call us if this occurs.
• If you lose an aligner please more forward to the next aligner; use your chewie as much as needed to seat the new aligner fully.
• NEVER THROW AWAY YOUR USED ALIGNERS! STORE THEM IN THEIR PACKAGE AND REPLACE THEM IN THE BOX ONCE YOU MOVE ONTO YOUR NEXT TRAY.
• 1-3 days of mild soreness is normal when changing to new aligners. Teeth may also feel slightly loose or wiggly. This is normal. Tylenol may be used as needed. Eating and drinking things that are cold is also helpful.
• To keep your aligners as clean as possible, rinse them with water after removing, brush your aligners everyday with a cool water and mouthwash and brush your teeth every time you eat or drink anything besides water before placing your aligners back in.
• Make sure to clean old trays really well before placing them back in their packages.
• If you feel a rough edge, you may use a nail file to buff the sharp area of the aligners.
• Please use your chewie for at least 5 minutes per day for the first 3 days of each new aligner, use further if needed to get the trays to fit better. Your aligner should fit completely over your teeth. If you notice that they are not fully seated, continue to use a chewie and please call us so we can keep things going in the right direction!

If you have any questions or emergencies, please visit our orthodontic emergencies page for more info.