Cleaning Braces-Proxy Brush & Dental Wax

Dr. Christopher Maulik: My name is Dr. Chris Maulik, I am an Orthodontist in San Diego, California. I am doing this video on how to brush with braces. What I am going to cover now is what's called a proxy brush.

Many patients find this to be very helpful when they are cleaning their teeth. What the proxy brush is, is a little brush, its like a bottle brush. What it does is it goes in between the braces. So you can get in between the braces, you can go in between the wire, just be careful that you go in to be very careful with your braces. There are bonded on the teeth where that type of composite resin, that can break off fairly easily. So when you are in there cleaning, make sure that you do use caution, but this is a very important tool that go in between the teeth, underneath the wire and to go in and actually massage the gums, so that you can get them clean. This is a good tool to get in between all kinds of little areas and patients find it to be very helpful. Next, what I am going to cover is dental wax. Wax is a very important thing, specially when you first get your braces on. What wax does is it takes away any hard or sharp parts in your mouth. What you will do is you will take the wax out, you break off a piece, you are going to ball it up with your fingers. Then anything that's sharp that's bothering your lips, you can cover up with this wax, like this.

It will be hard to remove but when you brush your teeth, it should remove fairly easily. But this will help to soothe any hard, sharp parts. Overtime, you won't need this as your lips will become accustom to the braces, but at the beginning of braces this is a very crucial part.

Next, what I am going to cover is called floss threaders.