Building Healthy Habits with Fixed Braces?
Try Habit Stacking with Healthy Smile Pharmacy
Know the fixed brace cleaning drill but it's sometimes a bit hit and miss?
Upscale your habits easily and never be tempted to skimp on fixed brace oral hygiene again.
With fixed braces you need to form these three habits:
it's all about the repetition
1. Always being prepared
2. Practising the three times a day brushing routine
3. Maintaining that routine come fire or flood!
Q: How do I form good oral hygiene habits when wearing braces? A: Introduce habit stacking.
the details
When it comes to cleaning your brace, it’s time to go big or go home. But humans don’t suddenly form big habits and stick to them like a bracket to a tooth. If you can, pre-brace, start habit stacking. If you’re already bonded up, start habit stacking now.
Big habits are built from micro-habits. Habit stacking helps you form big habits and for them to become second nature. Micro-habits, those smaller routines within the big habit, aren’t off putting since they’re tiny commitments. Overtime, micro-habits stack-up to become one big habit which doesn’t feel like effort.
We're not overwhelmed, we're brushing, swishing and flossing minus the feeling we've dedicated our whole day to the cleaning of our braces. Phew!
Brushing 3 times a day is non-negotiable
Big Habit 1
We’ll say that again: brushing 3 times a day is non-negotiable. This must be the first habit formed.
The micro habit stack to do it 3 times a day:
- Food’s pesky: it gets stuck.
- Bacteria loves lunch!
But, you already brush twice a day so, halfway between waking and sleeping, adopt an easy third session with an Orthodontic Travel Kit. Fits in your bag. Bish, bash, brush! Job done! Sticker for you.
Not quite up to speed with the new regime?
help for hitting the triple
It’s not uncommon, particularly for teens with braces, for the triple to get missed. But, no Tooth Fairy is going to grant your wish that you can brush less. Sorry, not sorry. Your teeth are for life and lifelong staining and damage to teeth and gums is not the point of having this treatment.
But, your orthodontist would rather you got there eventually, rather than not at all. Start at the beginning with toothbrush and toothpaste and the morning, midday and before bed routine.
Within a few days, add in a second habit. We've put together a helpful grid below to help you understand how the drill fits together in your day. Aim to smash the first four habits in two weeks. Sticker charts are so last year, so, beforehand, negotiate a prize (with yourself, parents, a friend) for acing it quickly! Everyone deserves a prize at the milestone marker, after all.
Preparation! Preparation! Preparation!
big habit 2
The micro habit stack for preparation:
Specialise
Plugging away at plaque requires prep. Fail to prepare and prepare to fail. Having all the kit to hand is key. That can be harder than it sounds because, with braces, you need specialist orthodontist kit and floss that operates like a Ninja!
Be the orthodontic star with a subscription
Luckily, if you’re subscribed to our Fixed Braces Daily Care Kit (clever you), you’re prepped to perfection for your brushing routine. You’re even armed to keep bacteria at bay with VITIS Orthodontic Mouthwash in between. Dentist sticker for you!
Need your kit to be even flexier?
We can help you manage your kit when you log into your subscriptions:
- Need the kit more often, you brushing pro? No problem: increase your frequency.
- Planned a holiday? Reschedule your next drop.
- Need the kit pronto? We offer next day delivery!
- Got a brace of kits in waiting? Hit skip.
Out of one key tool for a few days? It could start a bad habit ...
Don't trick your brain into thinking you only need to get interdentally busy a couple of times a week. That’s a no-no!
Get interdentally equipped to hunt down hidden bacteria. Don’t get caught with your tools down!
Other preppy solutions ...
Prefer to Floss? Source some Specialist Floss
With braces, regular flossing is like trying to shove toothpaste back into the tube – impossible! Sourcing specialist floss on the high-street is as rare as catching a glimpse of the Tooth Fairy.
Don’t let your arch wire win. Get stocked with Proxy Soft 3 in 1 Floss. It threads, so your arch wire’s no match as its proxy brush design brushes between your teeth. It's a preparation win for your treatment plan.
When it comes to prepping for brace pain, it’s time for belt and braces
Orthodontic Wax is the go-to dream when it comes to adjustment appointments and you suddenly find there’s a spring that rubs and wasn’t there five minutes ago. But, finding wax at a regular pharmacy is like trying to find hen’s teeth.
That’s why we supply orthodontic wax in packs of two: for home and away. Get ahead of the curve before adjustment appointments and pop a packet in your pocket! There’ll be no flies on you (just a very soothing opaque wax)!
Maintain. Maintain. Maintain.
big habit 3
The Micro Habit Stack for Maintenance
Don’t be a stranger to your dentist
Keep up your six-monthly appointments with your regular dentist, as well as seeing the orthodontist. They both look after your mouth health in different ways, so have dates in your diary for both.
Life happens – let it!
You’ll wear your braces for a long time. There could be study, exams, promotions, arguments, celebrations, feasting, heartbreak, house moves, all manner of life ...
Don’t let them put you off your brush stroke. Ground yourself into a routine that never changes. Let your teeth do the changing, but keep your brushing exactly the same!
Get busy with a tongue scraper
Once you catch the cleaning bug, you’ll want to hunt down and invade all the safe harbours for plaque. Did you know, the surface of your tongue can be a home for the yellow stuff? Try Dr. Wieder’s Original Tung Brush. He was a dentist, so he knew exactly how to design this bad boy!
Good luck. Remember, oral health IS health and, with straighter teeth, you’ll enjoy better oral health.
Keep brushing!
