How to Care for Your Functional Appliance
Caring for Functional Appliances 101
At Straighten Up Orthodontics, we use functional appliances to “train” or reshape the jaw. This is done for a number of reasons, with the most common being to correct a malocclusion or prevent teeth overcrowding. Caring for your functional appliance is crucial for efficient treatment.
How Often to Wear Your Functional Appliance
Your functional appliance plays an integral role in shaping and aligning your dental arch, bite, and jaw. Therefore, you should wear your functional appliance every day and take steps to keep it clean and operational.
Unless instructed by Dr. Wiltshire, your appliance should only be removed while:
- Swimming
- Playing a wind instrument
- Playing a contact sports
- Eating
You should also remove your functional appliance if the activity in which you are partaking may cause injury to yourself or your appliance.
Eating with a Functional Appliance
Depending on your treatment, it may be recommended for you to keep your functional appliance inserted while you eat. Talk to Dr. Wiltshire if you are unsure on the exact details of your treatment plan.
Sensitivity
Cleaning Your Appliance
Maintaining oral hygiene is especially important when undergoing treatment with a functional appliance. While your functional appliance is installed, there are more spaces for germs and bacteria to accumulate. Therefore, brush your teeth and clean your appliance after every meal. Use toothpastes made for sensitive teeth and use clear anti-bacterial soaps to clean your appliance (if removable). Once or twice per week, soak your appliance in a denture or orthodontic appliance cleaning solution to remove any buildup, bacteria, or odors.
Foods to Avoid
Like braces, there are certain foods that can damage your functional appliance and delay your treatment. Foods that should be avoided include:
- Sugary foods: cakes, cookies, candy, rock candy, etc.
- Acidic foods: Tomato, lemon, grapefruit, etc.
- Sticky and chewy foods: taffy, licorice, gum, pretzels, bagels, etc.
- Hard foods: apples, carrots (un-shredded), corn on the cob, hard breads, ice, etc.
There’s always chocolate! Chocolate dissolves quickly, making it an acceptable treat for those moments when you have an unrelenting craving for something sweet.
