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Keeping your teeth clean is more important than ever when you have braces. Food bits have more spots than usual to hide in your mouth, so you must be diligent in order to avoid bad breath, swollen gums, discolored teeth and cavities. If you remove plaque regularly during treatment, you'll experience better results and shorter treatment time. Keep plaque at bay with these top ten tips:

1. One tooth at a time. When you brush, take time with each individual tooth – at least 10 seconds each – and pay careful attention to the spots where your teeth touch your braces.

2. It’s all about the angles. Brush the tops of your teeth and braces with your brush angled down toward where they meet. Brush the bottoms of your teeth and braces with your brush angled up.

3. The tooth, the whole tooth, nothing but the tooth. While the front surface of your teeth may seem like the most logical to clean, it’s equally important to clean the inner surface of your teeth (tongue side) as well as the chewing surface. And be sure to clean along your gum line – a key spot for plaque buildup.

4. Step 1: eat, step 2: clean. While you’re in treatment, it’s important to brush after every meal. Bits of food can easily get caught between braces and teeth, and these food bits interact with bacteria in your mouth to cause decay. The longer food is in contact with your teeth, the greater opportunity for plaque to form. If you are eating somewhere that you can’t brush, thoroughly rinse your mouth with water.

5. Like a Boy Scout, always be prepared. The easiest way to be sure you can brush after every meal is to get in the habit of taking a toothbrush, toothpaste and floss with you wherever you go. Designate a special container just for your teeth-cleaning tools and keep it in your purse, backpack, or laptop case.

6. Remove the moving parts. If you have elastic bands or headgear, remove these parts before you brush or floss.

7. Fluoride is your friend. Fluoride helps prevent cavities. Be sure to brush with fluoride toothpaste, and rinse with fluoride mouthwash.

8. Pointy brushes reach tiny places. Interproximal brushes (sometimes called proxa brushes or interdental brushes) are cone-shaped and come in very handy for reaching spots around your braces that standard brushes can’t.

9. Find the floss for you. Regular floss works for some patients, but others find it easier to work with a floss threader, which helps you get the floss into tight places. Other patients like an all-in-one product called Superfloss, which comes with a stiff end for easy threading, a spongy section for cleaning wide spaces, and regular floss for narrow spaces.

10. Make time for the pros. It’s your job to take care of the everyday cleaning. But make sure to visit your dentist regularly while in treatment, to get the deep, thorough cleaning that only a professional can provide. If you need help finding the right Dentist for you, feel free to contact our office - we’d love to help!

Hope this helps!

Dr. Kennell and Team

Once braces come off we know it is exciting to see how great your new smile looks.  And you want to keep it that way, right?  However, some patients forget how important it is to wear their retainers to maintain that beautiful smile after orthodontic treatment is complete.  At Kennell Orthodontics, we give specific instructions to all of our patients on how to properly wear retainers.  Typically, retainers are worn 24/7 for the first three days after braces are removed, then just during sleep thereafter.

Retainers must be worn for life in order to maintain the teeth in position.  Minor tooth movement can occur throughout life, which is why we strongly encourage our patients to always wear their retainers.  Oh - and remember to keep those retainers away from the dog.  Dogs don't just eat your homework, they eat retainers too!

The Kennell Ortho family invites you to join in the fun as we celebrate another festive Spirit Week...one of our favorite times of the year!

July 16 - 19, pop in to the office dressed for the day's theme and earn a prize.  It's that easy and that fun!

Tuesday, 7/16 - Hawaii Day

Wednesday, 7/17 (Littleton) - Sports Day

Thursday, 7/18 - Tie Dye

Friday, 7/19 - Pajama Day

Successful orthodontics is a team effort and YOU are our key player!

We have created a Patient Rewards Program to recognize your accomplishments and congratulate your winning achievements!

As a patient of Kennell Ortho, you're already enrolled in the program. All you have to do is collect points by doing any of the below listed activities.

Our Patient Rewards Program is an incentive program based on your cooperation. You set the bar and every visit is an opportunity to earn points and cool prizes!

Here's how it works...

Check out all the great stuff you could get using your points!

Every time you sign in for your appointment, you can click "Patient Rewards" to see how many points you've earned. Most importantly, have fun and THANK YOU for being

a Kennell Ortho patient.