East Street Dental Practice.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR YOUR REMOVABLE ORTHODONTIC APPLIANCE

For your treatment to be carried out as planned, your appliance (brace) must be worn exactly as instructed.

Unless we have said otherwise this appliance must be worn full time - that is all day and all night, and during meals. It must be removed after meals for thorough cleaning of your teeth and the appliance.

To clean your appliance, use cold water and a toothbrush. Remove and replace the appliance in your mouth with great care, the wires bend very easily.

When your appliance is in the mouth, sticky and hard sweets must not be eaten. Fizzy drinks should be avoided.
Do not deliberately bite hard on to any part of the appliance.
During sports your appliance can be worn. Remove it for boxing, rugby and other contact sports.
If the appliance is out of your mouth for any reason, it must not be put in your pocket unless it is put into a box first.
If any accident occurs to the appliance, try to continue to wear it and contact us as soon as possible.
If you are unable to wear it for any reason this must be put right as a matter of urgency. Your teeth will tend to return to their original positions if the appliance is left out.

HEADGEAR

Sometimes it is necessary to wear headgear, which consists of a fabric hat connected to the brace by metal whiskers. Headgear is usually worn for a minimum of 12 hours each day, which involves wearing it for a few hours in the evening and then all through the night.

i) The whiskers (also called a facebow) should be added or removed from the brace when it is out of the mouth.
ii) Always unhook the elastic connection from the headgear to the whiskers, before you attempt to remove the brace with whiskers attached.
iii) It might be an idea to sleep on an old pillow least anything tears the material.
iv) For safety reasons either a plastic or cord neck strap connecting on to the whiskers must be worn.