Day & night relief from dry mouth! Let XyliMelts moisturise and bring relief to your dry mouth! Shop Now
In Your Post-orthodontic Era? How to Keep your Smile and Habits in Line
New chapter, new habits
New chapter, new habits
You kept the faith, lived through the lisping, the never-ending brushing and the ‘just one more month’ countdown.
Stepping into your post-orthodontic era’s a liberating time, freed from frenzied cleaning routines, no nagging voice in your head to perma-rinse – it's an intoxicating mix.
But here’s a thing: what can happen to your oral hygiene routines when the structure and discipline of treatment disappear overnight? With no end goal, we can feel rudderless and slip into come a day, go a day oral health habit.
In some ways, the challenges of orthodontic treatment begin after the appliances come off. The focus shifts to Why Wearing Retainers is Essential as teeth can move back to where they came from but the drive to keep a tip top oral health drill can fade.
And that’s where your brain, your habits, and James Clear’s Atomic Habits come in.
Stack tiny habits and build big results for lifelong oral health
In James Clear’s Atomic Habits, Clear teaches us it’s not goals that create sustainable change, but small, repeatable actions. Every time you clean your retainer, interdental after lunch, sleep in your removeable retainer (because it won’t do its job tucked up its case on the nightstand while you’re in the land of nod), you’re casting a vote for the oral health you want to build.
Tiny habits stick when you design them around four simple rules:
- Visual
- Attractive
- Easy
- Satisfying
Make the habit’s toolkit obvious
Keep your oral hygiene cues visible. While glossy interior design magazines show minimalist bathrooms, schlepping here there and everywhere to gather your oral tools would put anyone off high oral hygiene standards!
Have your retainer case on a surface, not in a drawer. Pop that Monotip Brush in the same pot as your toothbrush so you’re less likely to skip the deep clean for your fixed retainer. Make that bad boy sparkle!
Stack tiny habits and build big results for lifelong oral health
Even a gold standard interdental brush can lose its appeal if you’re already half asleep. Pair each habit with something you enjoy.
That episode of MAFS won’t be offended if you’re getting busy with those Interprox Interdental Brushes for the last few minutes of broadcast. With their angled brush head, dual-coloured filaments that reveal plaque or bleeding and their durability, there’s no fiddling about. In the familiar words of MAFS, they show up for you!
Soaking your retainer in a stylish Soaking Bath has more appeal than a random drinking glass. Why? A soaking bath with a removeable tray means you’re not in danger of tipping your retainer into the sink and you don’t have to scrabble around with your fingers fishing the retainer out of the dregs of its cleaning solution. Plus, with a cheeky tooth shaped design, that part of you that yearns for functional whimsy is satisfied!
Make the habit easy to perform
No place for friction or excuses here. Have the tools to hand.
You rinsed twice a day in orthodontic appliances, keep that magic going by packing a Retainer Travel Kit in your bag daily.
- Its VITIS Medium Access Toothbrush sets the standard in toothbrushes anywhere you find yourself. Plaque might well quake in its boots!
- The VITIS Whitening Toothpaste means polishing, brightening and restoring with hydroxyapatite nanotechnology doesn’t require a whole laboratory!
- The mouthwashing power of VITIS Whitening Mouthwash keeps stains and sensitivity at bay in a swoosh and swill. Its mini bottle powers mean there’s no need to decant at home. Phew!
- Mind the gaps and give plaque nowhere to hide on your travels when you breeze it with that Interprox Blue. Easy never got squeezier!
Make your habit satisfy you to the core
Nothing worse than building the behaviours for great habits only to find your kit and caboodle’s letting you down, right? You brushed but your teeth still feel furry, you drank your coffee through a straw, but your polish still dulled. We get it!
Post orthodontic treatment, you can enjoy the benefits of VITIS Whitening products which care for, restore and protect tooth enamel. You can couple VITIS Whitening with VITIS Effervescent Cleaning Tablets by subscribing to a Retainer Complete Care Kit.
- The toothpaste and mouthwash gently remove stains and help to prevent them returning. Ding!
- Polished teeth that look and feel clean - because they are!
- Sensitivity doesn’t stand a chance as the nanotechnology of hydroxyapatite restores enamel with the very thing your teeth are made of
When you feel the results of your stacked habits, and enjoy the praise of your dental team, you’ll know you’re getting the small things in a row and the lifelong oral health benefits in line.
Further Reading
James Clear, Atomic Habits (2018) The foundation for this approach: small actions, identity-based change, and sustainable systems.
British Orthodontic Society Retention Advice Official guidance on keeping your post orthodontic results stable after treatment.
