If you came across us as you were desperately searching the internet after breaking your braces, you have definitely come to the right place! At Timock Family Orthodontics, we have seen it all and are here to help support everyone through those challenging orthodontic moments like breaking your braces!
If you are one of our patients in the Fort Collins or Windsor areas, then give us a call and we’ll help you figure out your next best steps till you can come see us to get things fixed. And keep reading to learn our to-do list after you break something to help anyone take care of themselves and their braces!
How Your Braces Might Break
Before we can learn about how to care for broken braces, we need to learn more about why braces sometimes break and the most common causes. Here is the shortlist of the most consistent reasons we see braces being broken:
- Eating foods that are not braces-friendly
- Playing sports or other activities that accidentally cause injury to the face
- Using the wrong methods to brush and floss your teeth, resulting in broken braces
There’s no shame if you accidentally break your braces yourself, or if something happens. Mistakes and accidents happen, and that’s what we are here for, to help you solve problems as they come up. We also have a few tips that we will share at the end of this blog to learn some best practices that might help prevent your braces from breaking in the future.
Your Plan of Action
Assess the Break
First, take a good look at what happened. Grab a mirror and check out what part of your braces are broken and how much. Check a few things: are all the pieces still attached? If not, can you find and save the broken-off pieces? Which parts are broken? Wires? Brackets? How many? Which teeth are impacted? Once you can answer all the questions, you will be in a better position to talk to our team about solving this problem!
Make Yourself Comfortable
Now you should make sure that you are comfortable. Are there wires poking into your cheeks? Secure them as best you can with dental wax until you get to our office. There’s no need to be in pain or discomfort while you wait for the next steps!
Make an Appointment With Dr. Timock
Call our office right away, or as soon as you can during business hours. Our office staff can get you an appointment right away for an emergency visit to fix this problem. Let them know what happened, how it happened, and what is happening now with your braces. Be sure to bring in any pieces that might have come out for Dr. Timock to evaluate, and he can sometimes even reuse them if they aren’t badly bent or broken.
Manage the Break Until Your Appointment
All that’s left is managing your smile until you make it to your appointment. Hopefully, you aren’t struggling with serious pain or other issues, but if you are our team will make sure you can get in ASAP. Keep using that dental wax and whatever else you need to keep your broken braces secure, and we will see you in our office very soon!
How to Prevent More Breaks in the Future
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure when it comes to broken braces, and we want to avoid you from dealing with the hassle and cost of getting things fixed. Not to mention slowing down your alignment progress! That’s why we want to do everything we can to avoid you breaking braces in the first place, and certainly prevent more breaks in the future.
The first culprit is usually food, so be honest about your eating habits with braces. Chewing hard, crunchy, and sticky foods is a no-go, and while we know it’s a bummer, it’s one of the best ways of keeping your smile safe. Keeping up with your daily brushing and flossing is also important. The acids from plaque can erode the cement of your brackets and make them looser and easier to break off.
Otherwise, be extra safe when it comes to sports. We recommend avoiding all contact sports while you are wearing braces, and certainly always wearing a mouthguard during sporting events just in case. Not only is it frustrating to have your braces break, but it can be super painful in these circumstances, for you and others!
Finally, be sure to follow our guidelines for how to keep your smile clean with braces on. Brushing should be thorough but not rough, and flossing should be regular but not require pulling on the brackets or wires. Talk through the best technique with our staff the next time you come in for a visit if you need to ‘brush up’ on your skills!
Experience the Difference at Timock Family Orthodontics!
No matter what happens during your orthodontic treatment, we are ready to support you! Orthodontics is an important part of your life and health, but we know that it can’t be the only part. We are here to make sure that things are taken care of, and that you are safe and healthy throughout the entire process.
Give us a call to schedule a free consultation appointment at one of our offices in Fort Collins or Windsor!