How To Curb The Soreness Associated With Wearing Of Braces

Posted on: 5 April 2016

Misaligned teeth can deny you happiness and lower your self-esteem. The good thing is that teeth misalignment is not considered a disease in the medical field, nor is it incurable. It is just a condition, and it can be corrected using different methods including the use of braces. When braces are applied, there is usually little or no pain felt by the patient. But three days after treatment, you may begin to feel some sort of discomfort in your teeth. This is pinned down to the fact that your teeth have started to realign. The adjustments together with the pressure applied by the wires generate soreness around the teeth. Here are ways in which you can deal with the soreness:

1. Use Salt And Warm Water

A simple mixture of salt and warm water can reduce the pain and soreness generated by the braces. To come up with an effective solution, mix 8 ounces of warm water with one teaspoonful of salt. Then rinse your mouth vigorously with the solution whenever you are feeling pain.

2. Clip The Protruding Wire

There are occasions where the discomfort is caused by a protruding wire. If that is the case, do not fret. Instead, use the back of a spoon or any other blunt instrument to push the wire so that it can lie flat against your teeth. If that seems too hard of a task, then clip the sharp edges of the protruding wire using a clean nail clipper that has been sterilized in alcohol. The aim is to get it out of the way so that it can stop causing you the pain. Sometimes, you may feel like the wire is getting longer at the back of the braces. This is because the spaces between your teeth are being closed as the teeth continue to align. In this situation, you may experience some form of soreness when the wire comes into contact with your mouth tissues.

You can deal with the discomfort caused by the wire by using the orthodontic wax that is usually provided during treatment. Roll up some of the wax into a small ball and place it into the poking wire. In addition to soothing the area, the wax will ensure that your mouth tissues will not get caught by the wire.

You can also use some over-the-counter medications to reduce the pain. Some of them include ibuprofen and acetaminophen. These medications will also get rid of the headaches that accompany the soreness. 

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