Dr. Frial and our team will do everything in our power to make sure you get the results that you want. However, it is imperative that you also do your part to ensure that your orthodontic treatment is successful. Whether you’re wearing braces, expanders, or clear aligners, it is important you carefully follow the instructions provided to you.
Eating with Braces
During your visit to our Laguna Niguel orthodontic office, we will give you a list of braces friendly foods. Foods like pasta, fruits, dairy products, and tortillas are some of the best you can eat when you have braces.
We recommend avoiding hard, sticky, chewy, and high-sugar content foods.
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• Hard foods such as nuts, raw carrots, and hard breads/bagels can break or damage wires and brackets.
• Sticky and chewy foods like beef jerky and caramel can get caught between brackets and wires.
• Sugary foods can cause cavities and scarring of the teeth.
Nail biting, pencil and pen chewing, and chewing on foreign objects should always be avoided!
Braces Home Care
Discomfort
It’s important to regularly check your braces for bent or loose wires and brackets. When you have your braces tightened, your teeth will be tender especially when you first get your braces on. This is normal and will subside after a few days. Taking Tylenol or Advil will help alleviate the soreness or discomfort. You can also rinse with warm salt water. It is possible you may initially get some irritations on the lips and cheeks. Use the wax provided in your Care Package to place over the braces. After one to two weeks, your lips and cheeks will form a callous and no longer feel any irritations.
Loose Brackets and Wires
Call our office immediately for advice if a bracket or wire comes loose. The bracket or band may need to be re-fitted as soon as possible. If you have a situation that happens in the evening or over the weekend, it may require cutting a wire or removing a bracket off a wire. The eraser of a pencil can be used to temporarily bend a pokey wire back in place or out of the way. Wax can also be used to place over the loose bracket or pokey wire. If you need to cut a wire in case of emergency, you may use a clean fingernail clipper. Please call our office the next business day, so that we may schedule an appointment for you.
Brushing and Flossing
Treatment success depends on your commitment to maintaining good oral hygiene. Ask Dr. Frial to show you the right ways to brush and floss with braces. If you have Invisalign®, you can remove your aligners for eating and brushing. However, it’s important to clean your aligners and remember to put them back on after eating. Dr. Frial recommends that you brush with a soft toothbrush at least three times a day. Make sure you brush every surface of each tooth including areas above, below, and between each brace. Also brush your gum tissue and tongue.
Flossing is also extremely important and should be done once a day. It will be more difficult when you have braces. A floss threader or super floss will help you get the floss under the archwire. If your gums are not healthy, they may bleed the first few days you floss. Remember that consistent brushing and flossing will result in a great orthodontic smile.
Keeping Your Treatment on Track
Some of the critical areas to ensure a successful treatment outcome are staying on schedule with your periodic orthodontic appointments at our Laguna Niguel orthodontic office. Each appointment is precisely scheduled to monitor your progress and make any necessary adjustments to keep you on track to finish on time.
Testimonial #1
Wow!!! What a genuine, caring, hardworking, highly skilled, punctual, fair priced, excellent, Orthodontist. We just finished our third set of braces for our 3rd child and if we had another we would take them here, too. I interviewed 4 highly recommended orthodontists in the area before choosing Dr. Frial’s orthodontics practice. Dr. Frial and his staff explain everything, no gotchas or hidden surprises, and they stick to a plan while allowing flexibility as everyone is different. Through the pandemic they surpassed expectations adding special filtering units, only allowing one patient inside at a time, taking temps, and other safeguards. Dr. Frial also teaches at UCLA which made me very confident that he is up to date with all the latest techniques and procedures. To top it off we were always greeted with a smile! – T.F
Testimonial #2
Dr. Frial is an exceptional orthodontist. He is a perfectionist when it comes to smiles and both of my children that have been in his care have beautiful smiles. He is also so caring and gentle. He follows up with phone calls if ever there was a question or concern and always made sure we had all the answers we needed. I can't recommend him enough. He's the best out there. – N.G.
Testimonial #3
Dr. Frial and his staff have been fantastic. Two of my kids are patients and I would HIGHLY recommend him to anyone who might need braces. We have been going to his office for nearly five years and have never had to wait. Always on-time. Always professional. Always so nice. – L.S.