Living With Braces
Reviewed by Dr. Brent E. Sexton
Braces do the work; you can make treatment more comfortable and keep your teeth healthy along the way. What you control is how comfortable your treatment is and what your teeth look like underneath when the brackets come off. This page covers the practical side.
To protect your teeth throughout treatment:
- Brush after meals whenever possible
- Clean carefully around brackets and wires
- Floss daily using orthodontic flossing tools or floss threaders
- Continue regular dental checkups and professional cleanings
Patients who struggle to maintain good oral hygiene may require more frequent visits to their dentist. Adults with a history of gum disease should also continue regular periodontal care throughout treatment.
Brushing and Flossing
Brackets and wires create a lot of new places for plaque to sit, and plaque left around a bracket for months leaves a permanent white mark on the enamel. That mark doesn’t come off when the braces do. This is the single most important thing on this page.
What works:
- Brush after every meal where you can, and always before bed. Angle the brush at the gum line, then above and below each bracket.
- Floss daily using a threader or orthodontic flosser. It’s awkward for the first week and routine after that.
- Keep up your dental cleanings every six months. They matter more now, not less.
- A water flosser is optional but genuinely helps, particularly for teens who find floss threaders tricky.
If keeping on top of it is proving hard, tell us. We’d rather adjust the plan than find the damage at the end.
Eating With Braces
For the first few days after your braces go on, and for a day after each adjustment, stick to soft food. Pasta, eggs, yogurt, soup, mashed potatoes, soft fruit. Normal eating resumes quickly.
After that, most food is fine. The exceptions are worth memorizing, because every one of them is a broken bracket and an extra appointment:
- Hard: nuts, ice, hard candy, popcorn kernels
- Sticky: caramel, taffy, chewing gum
- Chewy: bagels, hard crusty rolls, licorice
- Bite-into foods: corn on the cob, whole apples, raw carrots. Cut them up instead and they’re fine.
Chewing pens, pencils and fingernails breaks brackets just as reliably as caramel does.
Soreness, and What's Normal
Your teeth will ache for two or three days after the braces go on, and for about a day after each adjustment. It feels like a bruise, not a sharp pain, and over-the-counter pain relievers handle it. Lips and cheeks may be tender for the first week while the inside of your mouth toughens up. Orthodontic wax over any bracket that’s rubbing solves most of it.
Teeth also feel slightly loose during treatment, which alarms people. It’s normal and it’s the point: teeth have to loosen fractionally in the bone to move at all. They firm up again once treatment finishes.
What isn’t normal is a sharp poke, a wire that’s slipped out of place, or pain that’s getting worse instead of better. Call us for those.
Loose Brackets and Poking Wires
These happen, usually at an inconvenient moment, and they’re almost never an emergency.
A poking wire: push it gently away from the sore spot with the eraser end of a pencil, then cover it with wax. Don’t cut it.
A loose bracket: if it’s still on the wire, leave it and cover it with wax. If it comes off entirely, keep it and bring it in.
A lost separator or band: call us, but it can usually wait until the next business day.
In every case, call the office so we can schedule a repair. Appliances left unrepaired for weeks are a common reason treatment runs long. See orthodontic emergencies for anything more serious.
Wearing Your Elastics
If you’re given rubber bands, wear them exactly as instructed. Elastics do the bite correction that wires alone can’t, and they only work with near-constant wear. Wearing them every day keeps your treatment moving forward.
Change them as often as we tell you, carry spares, and put a new pair in right after eating. Patients who are consistent with elastics finish noticeably earlier than those who aren’t. It’s the biggest single thing you control.
Sports and Music
Carry on with both. For contact sports, wear an orthodontic mouthguard: it protects your lips and cheeks from the brackets as much as it protects the teeth, and it’s much cheaper than fixing the damage. Tell us what you play and we’ll fit the right one.
Wind and brass players usually need a week or two to adapt and then play normally. Wax over the front brackets helps during that stretch.
Questions Between Appointments
Call (925) 754-3197 in Antioch or (925) 513-9320 in Brentwood. You can also read about your braces options and retainers after treatment.
Frequently Asked Questions
Getting braces is an exciting step toward a healthier smile, but it’s normal to have questions about daily care, comfort, and what to expect during treatment. Below are answers to some of the most common questions patients and parents ask about life with braces.
How often should I replace my toothbrush?
Every two to three months, and sooner if the bristles splay. Brackets wear brushes out faster, and a frayed brush cleans badly exactly where cleaning matters most.
Do braces cause cavities?
No, but they make plaque easier to accumulate and harder to remove, which amounts to a higher risk if hygiene slips. Good brushing and regular cleanings neutralize it.
Do I need special toothpaste or a water flosser?
Ordinary fluoride toothpaste is fine. A water flosser isn’t required, though it earns its place for teenagers. An interdental brush for around the brackets is the cheapest upgrade you can make.
What happens if I don't wear my elastics?
Bite correction stalls, treatment takes longer, and in some cases progress already made slips back. If wearing them is hard, tell us and we’ll help you find a routine that works.