If you or your child has braces, keep a package of dental wax—also called orthodontic wax and tooth wax—to keep at home. Your orthodontist may provide it, and it's easy to find in most pharmacies. Here's some basic information about using dental wax on braces. What Is Dental Wax Used [...]

If you're having a problem with your braces, contact your orthodontist to ask whether you should come in promptly for a visit, or if the issue can wait till your next appointment. Some problems can impede treatment and should be fixed without delay, while others are just a nuisance. Of [...]

Getting braces can prompt some mixed feelings, especially in kids. It's exciting to have a bite problem addressed, but braces can also lead to a little self-consciousness at first. If your child is experiencing this, just reassure them that they'll get used to the braces, and soon they won't even [...]

After using braces to adjust the position of your teeth and having the braces taken off, that's not quite the end of your orthodontic treatment. Retainers are an important part of the process, too. After repositioning with braces, teeth are susceptible to shifting back out of place. Retainers prevent this [...]

Retainers are an important part of orthodontic care following alignment correction with braces. Once your braces come off, your teeth are prone to gradually moving out of the proper positions you just spent all that time getting them into. Retainers hold your newly adjusted teeth in place while new bone [...]

Once kids have braces on, they shouldn't be eating various hard, sticky, gummy, and otherwise potentially damaging foods. It's never convenient to have more limitations on what kids can eat—especially the particularly picky ones. So, as part of our endless attempts to be as helpful as possible, we thought we'd [...]

As you probably know, many gooey, gummy, chewy, sticky, and hard foods can easily cause problems with braces. This rules out a number of things that kids typically like to eat, making it just a little harder to come up with meal ideas your son or daughter will go for. [...]

Healthy gums and teeth are an important part of your overall health, as well as a cosmetic concern. Everyone knows that proper brushing, flossing, and antimicrobial mouthwash are essential ways to promote oral health and prevent cavities and gum disease. But, as with every other aspect of your health, what [...]

Everyone knows that it's important to steer clear of certain snack items like gum, gummies, hard or sticky candy, and nuts when you have braces. And really, that's not so bad from the parents' standpoint, since so much of the off-limits stuff is junk food anyway. So, what should you [...]