Be sure to follow proper protocol for bringing the medicine to school. While some schools will allow you to carry it with you, some schools may require it to be stored at the nurse’s office, and some may require a doctor’s note. Failure to follow proper protocol will likely result in you not being able to have the medicine at school. You could also use a small ice pack, but heading to the nurse’s office and/or carrying one around with you isn’t always very convenient. Don’t chew on stationery like pens, pencils, marker/pen caps, and erasers to relieve the pain. This will damage the supplies and ruin your teeth.
Try to bend back braces wire that is too long. Use a pencil’s eraser and bend the excess wire back onto your teeth. Put orthodontic wax onto the painful parts. Your orthodontist may have supplied you with some free wax. If you ran out or don’t have any, buy orthodontic wax at a pharmacy or department store. Get a piece of wax, roll it into a ball, and push it on the sharp part of the braces. [4] X Research source Buy silicone wax. Silicone wax is resistant to water and saliva, so it doesn’t crumble and fall off that easily compared to normal orthodontic wax. Take apart the packaging, wait for your mouth to produce more saliva, pinch and stick the adhesive part of the silicone wax onto the sharp part of your braces, and leave it there. It will stick better compared to normal wax. Ask your orthodontist to fix broken brackets and wires that are too long. These can cause bad injuries to your mouth, so you should immediately schedule an appointment with your orthodontist if any of this occurs. Having broken braces also lengthens your treatment time, which is not something you would want if you hate braces or if you want your teeth to be straightened quicker. If you have a cut in your mouth, see this article. If you have a canker sore caused by rubbing wires from braces, see this article.
Snacks that you shouldn’t eat during breaks include chips, whole fruits, granola bars, taffy, crackers, hard cookies, lollipops, jawbreakers, candy bars, and other hard or sticky foods. Snacks that you can eat during breaks include cut-up fruits, soft fruits (like kiwis, bananas, oranges, peaches, mangoes, or dragonfruit), yogurt, a bottle of milk, soft bread, soft cookies, and other soft, easy to swallow foods. Meals that you shouldn’t eat during lunch include taco shells, hard bread, hard sandwiches, hard bread crusts, pizza, grilled cheese sandwiches, and other hard foods. Meals that you can eat during lunch include noodles (udon, ramen, mac and cheese, spaghetti, chicken alfredo, noodle soup, pad thai, chow mein, etc. ), soft rice, soups, cereal, soft sandwiches, soft bread, tender meat with no bones, and other soft, easy to swallow foods.
Eat softer foods or foods cut up into pieces. Cut up your noodles, sandwich, meat, vegetables, or fruit into pieces. As explained in the previous section, this makes it easier to eat since your mouth won’t have to work as much with chewing, making your mouth less painful. Drink a lot of liquids while eating. This reduces your chewing time and helps you swallow larger pieces of food. Don’t completely swallow without chewing though- this can lead to choking. Chew a few times into a few pieces, drink some water with the food, and swallow. Pack a smaller lunch. If you still eat very slowly, you may have to pack a smaller lunch. If lunch is 20 minutes long, you may need 30, 40, or even 60 minutes to finish lunch. You’ll have to pack half as much as your regular lunch. You can reduce your hunger after lunch by eating snacks like fruit and bread after school.
Your orthodontist may have provided you with a travel-sized kit for cleaning your braces. Put a travel-sized toothbrush, some toothpicks, floss, a container of toothpaste, some pain medication, a pocket mirror (to check for any food particles left in your teeth), a mini bottle of mouthwash, orthodontic wax, small cups to rinse out your mouth, and some napkins in your tooth hygiene kit. If you can’t brush your teeth (if you don’t have time between lunch and other classes), rinse out your mouth with mouthwash and water. It’s best to use floss made for braces to floss your teeth afterwards.
For people with rubber bands, take the bands off before every meal and put new ones on after every meal. So, in addition to cleaning your braces, put new rubber bands onto your braces. Check here to learn how to connect a rubber band to your braces. Some people had rubber bands with their expanders, so when they got braces, they didn’t need to get rubber bands anymore. This is why some people don’t have rubber bands on their braces. For people with springs, you do pretty much the same thing for people with no extra parts on their braces. You might have to put orthodontic wax onto your springs though, since they are likely to scratch your lips and mouth. You shouldn’t take them off either, since they create spaces for other teeth. Try not to fidget with your springs during class and fidget with a pen instead. For people with power chains, do the same thing for people with no power chains on their braces. You might have to brush more carefully and use floss to get food off of the elastic chain, so take more time in keeping up with your dental hygiene. For people with orthodontic headgear, take the headgear off while eating. Talk to your orthodontist on how to put on and take off the headgear, since there are multiple types of headgear. You can still drink while wearing the headgear though; just use a straw. You may have to sit out during PE or sports clubs if you play contact sports (American football, soccer, hockey, wrestling, boxing) [9] X Research source
Repeat to yourself that you are beautiful the way you are! If you are worried about food particles stuck in your teeth, use your pocket mirror from your tooth hygiene kit to secretly check for stuck food particles. You can then excuse yourself to the bathroom, citing “feminine hygiene”, “stomach issues”, or “having a lot to drink”. You could also directly say that you need to clean your teeth, but most people would be pretty embarrassed about their bad tooth hygiene. Ignore light teasing, like if someone says, “Those don’t look good on you” or “Woah, check those metal weird things in their mouth!”. If it gets to insults, like “You are ugly as a pig. " or “You look like a weirdo”, report it to a trusted adult.
To combat this, explain what it is. Say something like, “It’s something to fix my teeth! This metal wires will make my teeth straight and neat. " or “These metal brackets and wires, called braces, shift my teeth to make them aligned. " If it gets to be too much, you could just ignore the people who ask multiple times. They will likely soon realize that pestering you with questions about braces is wasting their time (since you’re not going to answer/pay attention to them) and leave.
