Mouth injuries of all types can be exacerbated while wearing braces, which is why you’ll need the experts at JK Orthodontics to help in these unfortunate scenarios!
It’s important for all braces patients to understand that it’s normal to experience some discomfort in the first few days of treatment, but this tightness dissipates as you get more accustomed to your orthodontic treatment appliances.
The biggest concern that patients and parents should have when it comes to braces treatment is the rare possibility of serious mouth or face trauma while wearing braces, because braces can sometimes make mouth injuries more painful. The entire JK Orthodontics team understands just how effective braces treatment can be for countless people, which is why we want to make sure that we’re providing all sorts of tricks and tips to help you avoid serious mouth injuries and properly treat common injuries that may happen throughout your treatment process.
The most important thing you should keep in mind when it comes to mouth injuries during braces treatment is that you’re going to need to call us right away we can advise you in terms of best care techniques and preparing for emergency appointments.
Below we’ll be going over some of the most common mouth injuries that braces patients experience, as well as some tips to help you avoid these types of injuries while you’re undergoing treatment!
Common Mouth Injuries That Braces Patients Sometimes Experience
When a braces patient experiences a mouth injury, it can often lead to irritated gums, displaced teeth and painful lesions on the insides of the lips and cheeks. In these types of scenarios, it’ll be important for the patient to consistently use an ice pack to ease the overall amount of pain and decrease potential swelling.
Forceful impacts to an individual’s face, lips or cheeks can cause this sensitive skin and tissue to get stuck within brackets. This sometimes leads to painful cuts and bruising, but the good news is that soft tissue damage will generally heal itself on its own rather quickly.
If your teeth become displaced due to a facial injury, your gums can potentially become severely inflamed. This type of serious gum irritation and swelling can be more efficiently relieved when you swish a saltwater solution in your mouth a couple times each day. Topical pain gels are also a great way to ease the stinging feeling in affected areas during the first few days after the injury occurs.
Another important tip to keep in mind is applying orthodontic wax to your braces so you’re not continuing to irritate any cuts or affected areas by rubbing your wires or brackets up against it. It’s also important to simply remember that you’re going to need time to heal when you’ve experienced a facial injury, and this can subsequently mean that you’ll need to sit out from risky, high-contact activities like playing sports and only eat soft foods that don’t require a lot of chewing.
Tips To Avoid Mouth Injuries Throughout Your Orthodontic Treatment
By far the most common way people experience mouth injuries while wearing braces is through playing sports, and this is why mouth guards are absolutely critical to wear during every practice and game to protect your smile from harm. This is particularly important if you just so happen to play contact sports. What’s great is that there are now mouth guards that are specifically designed for athletes with braces, and Dr. Karpac can help you or your child when it comes to obtaining a mouth guard that’ll fit perfectly throughout your treatment process.
Another option to keep in mind when it comes to avoiding mouth injuries that are made worse by braces is to simply choose Line-M-Up™ instead. Line-M-Up™ is our patented invisible aligner technology that utilizes plastic aligners to provide the exact same results as braces treatment without the metal wires and brackets. Mouth injuries that are compacted by braces usually occur amongst active teenagers, which is why Line-M-Up™ is a good option for parents to consider when they just so happen to have a child that’s an athlete.
Contact The JK Orthodontics Team To Learn More About How We Support Patients With Mouth Injuries During Their Orthodontic Treatment
Although there are many different ways that you can prevent mouth injuries during your treatment process, there of course are countless unpredictable accidents that may still occur. What’s great is that there are many different at-home remedies that can help alleviate minor injury pain, but more serious mouth injuries need to be thoroughly addressed by Dr. Karpac and our team.
JK Orthodontics has been an industry leader throughout Central Ohio for over 30 years, so we’ve seen our fair share of mouth injuries amongst braces patients. You can always be fully rest assured that you’ll be in good hands when the unexpected occurs, and that we’ll do anything and everything to keep your treatment process comfortable and on track while you’re recovering.
Contact us online or call us at 614-766-0330 (Dublin office) or 614-471-6355 (Gahanna office) to speak with our team today about how we support our patients when they experience mouth injuries.