Are you ready to enjoy the holidays? As you bake sugar cookies, put up your seasonal decorations, and shop for the perfect gifts for your loved ones, don’t forget about your smile! Customizing and caring for your braces is an excellent way to show off your festive spirit! Here are a few tips to help your smile look and feel its best throughout the holiday season.
Color-Coordinate Your Rubber Bands
Changing the color of the rubber bands on your braces brackets is one of the best ways to showcase your unique personality. Usually, you can change the color of your rubber bands during your routine checkups with your orthodontist. You can choose colors that fit with whichever holiday you’re most looking forward to, like:
- Hanukkah: Classic Hanukkah color combinations for your braces include dark blue, light blue, silver, and white.
- Christmas: What better way to get your braces ready for Christmas than changing their colors to red and light/dark green! You could also go red and silver/white like a candy cane.
- New Year’s Eve: If you’re most excited for the start of the new year, try choosing colors like gold and silver. Sometimes, these even come with glitter accents!
Keep a Toothbrush & Floss Handy
One thing you don’t want your holiday smile to show off is all the delicious seasonal foods and snacks you’ve been enjoying! It’s easy for food debris to get stuck between your braces and teeth, especially if you’re snacking frequently. Depending on their color, some foods will be very noticeable against your pearly whites. What’s more, the longer these bits of food linger, the more likely they are to cause cavities. Keep a toothbrush and floss with you so you can take a moment to clean your teeth and braces when it’s convenient for you.
Avoid Foods on the Naughty List
When wearing braces, it’s important to pick what goes on your plate carefully. Certain foods can be particularly damaging for your braces. The last thing you need is for your seasonal festivities to be interrupted by a bent wire, broken bracket, or other dental emergency! Keep your smile safe and healthy by avoiding or limiting foods like:
- Hard nuts, popcorn, pretzels, and ice cubes.
- Candy canes, peanut brittle, peppermint bark, and crunchy gingerbread cookies.
- Hard/ raw vegetables, stuffing with nuts, and meat off the bone.
If this is your first time celebrating the holidays with braces, it’s likely that you’ll be taking extra precautions that you didn’t have to think about before starting your orthodontic treatment. While it may seem somewhat strange at first, you’ll get used to caring for your braces in no time. Just remember—the beautiful, healthy, and straightened smile that you’ll enjoy in the future will be well worth the extra effort. Use these simple tips to keep your treatment on track and your braces safe as you enjoy the holiday season.
About the Practice
At Simply Orthodontics Milford, we’re proud to offer a wide variety of orthodontic services for smiles of all ages. Our talented team of orthodontists are active members of the American Association of Orthodontists and regularly complete hours of continuing education. This helps them stay current with all the latest advancements in orthodontics and provide the most effective and comfortable treatments. For more tips on caring for your braces over the holidays, we can be reached online or at (508) 473-2002.