Friday, July 29, 2011

Clean Teeth, Healthy Smile

With braces, oral hygiene is more important than ever. That's because braces have tiny spaces where food particles and plaque get trapped and insufficient cleaning can cause enamel staining and tooth decay around brackets or bands.

At Surrideo, we help our patients maintain excellent oral hygiene habits during orthodontic treatment through the Ortho Care at Home Plan by Crest OralB. The program provides patients with a comprehensive, personalized plan, both in-office and at home, empowering them with the knowledge and tools to adopt an oral hygiene routine to help achieve a greater level of success in this difficult area.

It is based on a simple 5 level oral hygiene rating system that lets patients know how they’re doing at each visit: 1-poor, 2-needs improvement, 3-average, 4-good, 5-excellent. Each new starting patient will take home:

· Ortho care home booklet and healthy mouth assessment card with pictures to visually monitor the results of daily oral hygiene
· Oral B Triumph electric toothbrush (studies have shown this toothbrush to be the most effective brush in the industry)
· Crest Pro Health Toothpaste
· Crest Pro Health mouth rinse

At every appointment we also assess our patients oral hygiene and indicate where improvement is needed. Following the guidelines below, our patients can enjoy a new, beautiful, healthy-looking smile sooner.

-Floss before you brush - at least once a day. To make this easier, use a floss threader or SuperFloss, a special type of floss for cleaning around appliances such as braces.
-Brush, at minimum, twice a day for two minutes at a time.
-Rinse twice a day for 30 seconds each time.
-Make wise food choices and avoid actions that could damage your braces.