If your child has braces, they’ll be going to their orthodontist every three months, maybe more often, or maybe every four months. They will get their braces adjusted, tightened, and change the color of the elastic. Your child is going to have many appointments. What happens at these braces appointments?

Quite often parents don’t really know what’s going on at these appointments if you’re not in the room. If you ask your child what happened today, or what did they do to your braces, they will have no idea. Let me help you a little bit.

What are the brackets?

Brackets are that actual metal pieces that are bonded and cemented onto the tooth that will hold the wire in place. The wire is what actually tightens the teeth. Elastic is basically something that is used to tighten the teeth in a different way.

What do they do at the braces appointments?

First, a very basic appointment would be simply changing the color of the elastic.

It can be fun to change colors for Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, etc. kids love it.

Another thing that they do is check for cavities.

If your child has a cavity in between the teeth, they cannot fix it until the braces come off. So it’s very important to make sure that your child is brushing and cleaning in between the teeth with a water flosser. They can use the floss but they won’t be able to get in there properly. It’s going to be very difficult. I highly recommend using a water flosser because they can clean above and below the brackets.

At the braces appointment, they’re also going to tighten the teeth.

The wire goes in between the brackets. A stiffer wire tightens the teeth more. Tightening the teeth is good because that’s how the teeth will start to look better. The teeth will become straighter sooner rather than later. But you can’t just tighten them today and then tighten them again tomorrow. So this is why your child has many different appointments because these things take time.

Having braces on for not long enough and moving the teeth too quickly can actually take away the bone support that’s holding the teeth together. Once the bone is gone you can’t bring it back. It’s going to be two or three years sometimes more that your child has braces on. Because these things need to be moved slowly to do a good job.

After your child’s tightening appointment they’re going to be very sore. Soft foods are the way to go. Talk to your dentist if they would recommend ibuprofen, Tylenol, or anything like that because that can really help to alleviate the pain for your child.

If you have any questions, just leave comments below.