Ways to remove plaque in a physical way is by using the proper toothbrush and flossers and flossing brushes and inner proximal brushes. The first area where a lot of plaque accumulates on and around braces is around the actual bracket. Without braces, it’s a lot easier to clean the front of the tooth because it’s just a smooth structure. But once you have a bracket on your tooth, there are areas where the plaque can accumulate and accumulate on the top of the bracket, under it, and in between the brackets. There are a lot more areas where plaque can accumulate.
To get this plaque cleaned out I usually recommend an oscillating rotating toothbrush. Previous studies have actually shown that using this oscillating rotating toothbrush can increase the plaque removal from your teeth, decrease gingivitis, and sights of bleeding and all that stuff. The reason is the way that it rotates and oscillates. It can actually get around the bracket clean around the gum lines and work really well at removing this plaque. Some patients need just a little bit more help to get around the brackets and under the brackets.
If you tend to accumulate a lot of plaque in between the braces, these interdental brushes might be helpful to you! It’s great cleaning in between brackets. There are two different types. One is a disposable that could be used a couple of times and then thrown away or there’s one that you can use that’s at home, which has a handle that’s reusable. Those are the best ways at cleaning away the plaque that’s around the braces and prevent those cavities from occurring in the areas around the brackets.
What about in between the teeth? No toothbrush can really get in between your teeth because it’s the teeth are touching. The best way to get in between your teeth is by using string floss. It’s really hard to get the floss in between the brackets to get it to floss between the teeth.
These are the physical ways of removing plaque around the teeth. You should use an oscillating rotating toothbrush to remove the general plaque. If you have a little bit more around the gum line, I’d recommend getting a targeted clean bristle head. If you’re getting a plaque in between the brackets, you can either use the targeted clean toothbrush or the interdental brushes either the long stem one or the inner proximal one. To get rid of the plaque in between the teeth, you can use floss threaders to really sweep up all the plaque that’s being held up and building up in between your teeth. I also said that you can use chemical products to help on top of this to strengthen your teeth and strengthen your gums to help prevent tooth decay from occurring.
A stannous fluoride toothpaste actually does a few things. Fluoride is great but if you use stannous fluoride, which is a combination of tin and fluoride, it’s even more effective at fighting against tooth decay, gingivitis, and a lot of things like that. Studies have actually shown that patients that use status fluoride toothpaste have a decreased risk of those white spot lesions that we were talking about earlier. Not only does the stannous fluoride strengthen the tooth and make it so that acid isn’t as terrible for the tooth, but it also prevents plaque from even forming. It has an inhibitory effect on plaque accumulation. On top of that, what the tin does is it actually makes an acid protective layer on the tooth so that even if you’re eating something or having bacteria, it helps protect the tooth and even if it penetrates through the tin, you have fluoride in the tooth structure, which makes it stronger.