Getting braces is a momentous day of your life. You’re starting a journey towards an even more beautiful smile. But getting braces comes with its fair share of pain.
You’ve put a foreign metal piece in your mouth, so discomfort and soreness are expected. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t ways you can combat this pain. Following is a list of the top tips that will help you feel better through your first week:
1. Avoid Hot and Cold Food
Your braces pain may be due to increased blood flow to the gum. In turn, it increases your temperature sensitivity. To avoid hurting your sore gums, steer away from hot and cold food such as ice cream and soups.
Let your food reach room temperature before consuming it. It will be easier on your gums, and you won’t have to deal with the sensitivity issue for much longer.
2. Eat Softer Food
Like we mentioned above, to ensure minimum discomfort, you have to be gentle on your braces. Your mouth is still adjusting to your braces, and intense temperatures and too much chewing come soreness and pain.
To avoid this, you should stay away from hard foods for some time. The last thing your mouth wants is to struggle to mash and to chew hard foods. It includes simple foods like bread, steak, and so on, so you’ll have to always be on the lookout.
Eating soft foods helps reduce pain. If you replace your everyday food with cooled soup, rice, mashed potatoes, and somewhat softened cereal, you’ll notice less pain.
3. Rinse Your Mouth with Saltwater
If you notice a substantial amount of irritation, you can try rinsing your mouth. To do this, get a solution of warm saltwater and rinse your mouth with it.
You may rinse five to six times a day for 30 seconds to treat sore gums. Make a concoction of half a teaspoon of table salt in a cup of warm water. The saltwater helps both relieve pain and battle the soreness faster.
4. Use a Soft Bristled Toothbrush
Yet again, our focus is being gentle on your gums. A hard-bristle brush against your already sensitive gums will add pressure, which leads to pain.
The bonus point of brushing with a soft-bristle toothbrush is it’s painless but effective cleaning. Small particles of food often get stuck in the bracket and wires of your braces. Using a toothbrush with soft bristles ensures your teeth are clean and free from infections.
5. Take Pain Medication to Ease the Pain
Home remedies and preventive measures may reduce pain, but it’s hard to deal with the stress that braces cause. It shifts and aligns your teeth, which can be unbearably painful, whereas the steel ligatures can cause discomfort.
The pressure of the wire can cause an increase in blood flow. It means your first week is going to be full of pain and inflammation. Although the pain will subside over time, it doesn’t mean it will be naturally comfortable. To make it less challenging, you can use over-the-counter pain medication.
A couple of Advil or Motrin a day will do wonders in ensuring your mouth grows comfortable with the braces in record time.
If you’re looking to get braces, you can book an appointment by reaching out to our professional consultants here at Burke & Beckstrom Orthodontics.
