Fixed Braces During Lockdown

If you are wearing orthodontic braces, the COVID-19 pandemic causes specific challenges. Fixed appliance treatment relies on regular monitoring and timed changes to the components of your brace. Since the Chief Dental officer of England instructed all dentists to stop treating their patients face-to-face, clients wearing fixed braces need to be managed in a different way. As I am managing more than a hundred orthodontic clients, I have spent some time planning how you can safely manage your braces without us meeting in person.

My team and I are currently reviewing our orthodontic cases to work out how best to manage each individual circumstance and are attempting to contact each client personally. Our general objective is to continue treatment where I deem that there is a safe way of doing so. Some clients would be safer maintaining their current position or slowing the rate of orthodontic progress until we can meet again.

I can arrange for materials to be collected or posted and for specific advice to be given, so please call the practice 01159101447 or WhatsApp 07936361402 if you need help. I would advise anyone wearing fixed braces to:

  • Be very careful what you eat. Breaking part of your brace is going to complicate things. Avoid hard foods or foods with the potential to contain something unexpected. Chocolate, bread-crusts and popcorn are often culprits.
  • Avoid sugary foods and all confectionary. You may feel like comfort food right now, but this sticks to the edges of your brace and can cause permanent scars to your tooth enamel.
  • Carefully and thoroughly clean between your teeth and between your brace and teeth using TePe brushes. After very meal.
  • Check your braces every morning and evening for retained food, plaque and loose components. Contact me if you think something has changed.
  • If I have asked you to wear elastics, keep doing so and contact the practice if you run low.
  • Experiment with taking photos of your teeth, using your ‘phone, so that I can review your progress if necessary.
  • Make sure I have the postal address you are using during lock-down and the email address to which you have access. WhatsApp is a great way of providing photos of your mouth, so be ready to use this app.

I am working to support all my clients and welcome your contact.

Good luck and stay safe.

Tim