If you’re considering braces for yourself or your child, you might also be thinking about the tools you’ll need to help keep teeth healthy while in treatment.
One tool you don’t have to worry about when you’re our patient is a top-notch toothbrush. We participate in the OrthoEssentials program by Crest and Oral-B, and each patient is given an electric toothbrush when they begin treatment. More on that later.
A question parents and patients sometimes ask is whether an electric toothbrush truly is better than the good old-fashioned manual toothbrushes they grew up using. The answer is yes.
Consider these benefits of power toothbrushes:
Power brushes help ensure you brush long enough.
We all get in a hurry sometimes, and we may take a shortcut and do a quick brushing before heading out the door. But you shouldn’t short-change your oral health, especially if you wear braces. Electric toothbrushes ensure you brush for the appropriate length of time, and the Oral-B Professional Care SmartSeries 5000 Electric Toothbrush we give patients helps ensure they brush all areas of the mouth equally by pulsing every 30 seconds to let you know when to switch to the next area.
Power brushes achieve more rotations per minute than humans.
You make about 300 strokes per minute when brushing by hand. Electric brushes rotate 3,000-7,500 times per minute. Brushes that work with a rotating, oscillating action like Oral-B electric brushes remove plaque and reduce gingivitis more effectively than manual brushes in the short and long-term, according to a 2005 independent study.
Power brushes are great at working around your fixed orthodontic appliances.
You don’t have to put a lot of muscle into brushing with an electric toothbrush, and their quick rotating forces are great at dislodging food particles that can become stuck between brackets, arch wires, teeth and fixed retainers.
About the OrthoEssentials Program
This awesome program puts together a kit that includes everything our New York City orthodontics patients need to keep their teeth clean and beautiful while going through treatment. In addition to the toothbrush, other items included in the kit are:
As part of this program, we grade our patients’ oral hygiene at each appointment and we closely monitor their oral health throughout treatment.
This combination of orthodontic treatment with hygiene checks and excellent oral hygiene products helps ensure every one of our patients ends their orthodontic treatment with beautiful teeth and a reason to smile.
If you would like to learn more about orthodontic treatment or the OrthoEssentials Program, please give us a call.
