Braces Can Improve Your Oral Health & Smile

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Your new braces were installed at Dr. Jeffrey Neal’s orthodontic clinic to gradually reposition your teeth and correct their alignment. This involves a series of consistently timed adjustments to tighten the orthodontic components and stretch the periodontal ligaments that are responsible for anchoring your teeth in your mouth.

Maintaining the structural integrity of your braces throughout the realignment process is very important. If any component is loosened, bent, or otherwise damaged, it could affect progressive tension necessary for realigning your teeth. This could increase the total amount of time needed to correct the alignment of your teeth.

Sticky foods and chewing gum can place your braces at significant risk for significant damage in a variety of ways. The suction created could potentially pull a bracket loose, bend a wire, or dislodge a spacer.

You should also be very cautious about eating hard foods and biting off tough foods. The force applied to your teeth and braces could potentially bend a wire, damage a band, or potentially uninstall a bracket from the face of a tooth.

You should also make every effort to curtail bad habits like biting your nail, nibbling on desktop items, or using your teeth as improvised tools. Any of these activities could potentially damage braces hardware.

It’s also worth noting that athletes in contact sports are at increased risk of suffering a blow to the face. This can cause significant damage to braces, as well as soft oral tissues. Wearing a quality mouth guard or a custom mouth guard designed at Who Does Your Teeth can help protect your mouth from undue athletic harm.

If you are in the Henrico, Virginia, area and you have a problem with your braces, you should call 804-447-1435 to have it examined by Dr. Jeffrey Neal.