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Your teeth are precious. Once your permanent teeth come in, they need to last you a lifetime. Extensive tooth decay can lead to dental caries and the need for fillings, crowns, bridges, and dentures.

While these fixes can go a long way toward maintaining your quality of life, they cannot compare to your natural teeth. Getting braces is no excuse to let up on your thorough oral health routine: You need to take good care of your teeth before, during, and after braces to benefit completely from the gains you get from newly straightened teeth.

Why You Should Maintain Good Oral Health for Life

Begin a complete oral health regimen as early as possible in life, and maintain this routine throughout your life. Keeping your (or your child’s baby) teeth clean establishes a routine. It preserves healthy baby teeth whose function is to save space for the permanent teeth when they are ready to come in. Care of your permanent teeth helps preserve the enamel and prevent decay.

Take Special Care with Braces

It is important to pay attention to oral health when you have braces. If you do not take special care of your teeth during the months or years that you have braces, you risk irreversible damage to your teeth. Care is more difficult with braces because food can easily get stuck. In addition to brushing twice daily and flossing each day, Dr. Don Connolly and Dr. Stanley Sokolow and our staff suggest avoiding sticky foods.

Summer is almost here, which means a season full of vacations, adventures and great memories is just around the corner for our patients at Donald P. Connolly, DDS.

Everyone wants a glowing and radiant white smile when the sun comes around and we have a few reminders to keep your pearly whites healthy and beautiful over the summer! Try to stay away from drinks that will stain your teeth like coffee, soft drinks, or dark colored juices. Not only will drinks like this weaken your enamel but they will also darken that fabulous smile you're working on! Another tip is to try and focus on brushing your teeth; everyone knows that when busy schedules start picking up, getting a good brushing session in tends to take the backseat! A good tip for keeping your mouth safe from staining and other possible pitfalls is to rinse your mouth with water after any meal you can’t fully brush your teeth after. Your teeth, inside and out, will benefit!

And remember, whether you are headed to a barbecue, a camping trip, or just having fun in the backyard this summer, we want to hear all about it! Make sure to let us know what you’re up to below or on our Facebook page! We also encourage you to post any photos from your adventures!

Straightening your teeth has plenty of benefits. You’ll be prouder of your smile, and your bite may feel more comfortable. You can get additional benefits by selecting ClearCorrect aligners instead of traditional metal braces. Treatment will be more comfortable, you won’t need to cut out your favorite foods, and you’ll be able to keep your teeth clean throughout your treatment.

No Food Restrictions

Among the first things you may worry about when you consider treatments to straighten your teeth is missing out on your favorite foods. This can affect your daily life and make special occasions less fun, too. The following foods are forbidden with traditional metal braces, but not with ClearCorrect.

• Hard candies
• Chewy foods, such as bagels and many kinds of meat
• Sticky foods, such as fruit roll-ups, toffee, bubble gum, and caramels
• Popcorn, seeds, and nuts, since they can get stuck
• Hard foods, such as carrots and apples

The reason why you can’t eat these foods with braces is that they can stick in your braces, making your teeth dirty, or dislodge your braces. Neither of these is a problem with ClearCorrect because you get to remove the trays whenever you eat.

Ability to Clean Your Teeth

You can take your ClearCorrect aligners out of your mouth when it’s time to take care of your teeth. You can brush and floss normally, unlike with braces. That means that when you’re done with ClearCorrect treatment, you won’t have any nasty surprises like rotting teeth that were covered by dirty braces.

Invisible Treatment

No matter how young or old you are, you want to look your best. Teens want to fit in at school, and adults want to look professional and unremarkable. You can’t hide metal braces, but ClearCorrect treatment can be done almost in secret. The aligner trays are so close to being invisible that only your family and any coworkers or friends you choose to tell may know that you have them.

Straightening your teeth is an exciting proposition, but the thought of metal braces can be a barrier. With ClearCorrect treatment, you can get the benefits of straighter teeth without many of the hassles of braces. Contact our Santa Cruz, Aptos, or Watsonville, CA office to learn more!

The goal of orthodontic treatment at Donald P. Connolly, DDS, which may include the use of braces, retainers, and aligners, is to straighten your teeth. Treatment often starts in the pre-teen or teenage years, but adults may also need orthodontic treatment. The treatment can feel like a chore that lasts for several months or a couple of years, but it can fix important problems. These include:

• Crowded teeth spaced too close together
• Gaps between your teeth
• Crooked teeth
• Overbite or underbite
• Upper and lower teeth that do not meet

Straight Teeth are More Attractive

You are more likely to be proud of your smile when your teeth are straight and evenly spaced. Pride in your appearance can give you more confidence and encourage you to try new things. This can be particularly important for adolescents. In addition, people often judge others based on first impressions. A smile that shows straight teeth is more attractive.

Better Oral Health is Easier

Brushing and flossing your teeth are two basic components of an oral health routine to protect your teeth from conditions such as tooth decay, gingivitis, and plaque build-up. As Dr. Don Connolly and Dr. Stanley Sokolow and our staff know, caring for your mouth is easier when your teeth are straight. The American Dental Association says the following conditions are less likely to occur if you have the proper orthodontic treatment.

• Dental caries
• Gum disease or gingivitis
• Tooth loss
• Impaired speech
• Worn tooth enamel

Orthodontic Treatment Improves Nutrition

Poorly aligned teeth can reduce your ability to chew properly or make certain foods more difficult to eat. Many of these more challenging foods are healthy, and avoiding them can cause you to limit your diet to softer, often less-nutritious foods, such as ice cream and canned soup. Straighter teeth and a better ability to chew let you eat crunchy foods, such as apples and carrots; stringy foods, such as asparagus and chicken; and chewy foods, such as raisins.