How Should I Clean My Dental Braces?
By Teeth Brusher
(England)

The waterpik is the best way I've found to sweep away food particles and other debris hiding deeply and clinging to your braces.

You can control the water pressure shooting out the pick and can aim it squarely on the secret hiding places only you  know.

A fun experiment to try is brushing your teeth first, then swishing and rinsing your mouth ferociously until nothing falls out, AND THEN use the waterpik.

I bet you'll be shocked by how much more gunk spills out of your mouth. Yuk. 

This is the brand I use.

On the other hand, I religiously floss after each meal whether at home or on the road.

(That's the difference between getting braces as a kid and your parents pay for it, and when you get braces as an adult and you give up your monthly paycheck to get it done.)

You have two tools to choose from:

The first works like threading a needle. The thread being the dental floss. 

Once you thread the floss past your braces and through your teeth you can floss like normal.

I prefer the needle-thread tool because I feel it wastes less material. 

The second type of special braces flossing tool has a flat profile so it slips past your braces and allows you to floss between your teeth.

This is a pretty clever design. It comes with floss already installed and is therefore disposable after one use.

Even though I prefer the threader style, I carry a baggy with a few flat profile flossers in my purse.

This allows me to floss after a meal when I'm away from home or the lab.

Luckily, you can use a normal soft bristle brush with your braces.

But on the road I carry disposable brushes that let me slip into the lady's room and sweep away any embarrassing food stuck to my braces.

The disposable option is not designed to give you a proper brushing, though.

It's a temporary maintenance measure to remove big, obvious, and embarrassing food goo out of plain sight!

At home, however, we are true believers of the mechanical tooth brush.

My kids haven't had a cavity in years.

After each meal I brush with this or with a normal soft bristle tooth brush and do a proper job.

After I've cleaned away all the detritus-nasties, I like to seal in the goodness with a fluoride, non-alcohol mouth rinse.

A mouth rinse like this isn't just for good breath, it's very helpful to strengthen your enamel.

By the way, if you suffer from tooth sensitivity you may want to try rinsing with a fluoride mouth rinse.

My husband notices that his teeth are not sensitive to cold foods like they used to be since rinsing.

We use the #1 Dentist Recommended Act.