NEW PRODUCTS FOR ORTHODONTIC CARE By Jeanne Boseker, RDH O ver the past twenty to thirty years there have been dramatic changes in the field of Dentistry. Orthodontics and dental hygiene have been a part of this revolution, keeping up with a constant stream of changes. The majority of orthodontic patients today are teenagers and most have some form of brackets and wires in their mouths. This presents many challenges to achieving good oral hygiene throughout treatment. As a hygienist, I see these patients and the common denominator is that while they have been shown and know how to floss with their braces, most of them don’t do it. Of course they don’t do it! It isn’t very easy flossing teeth without hardware on them, and really across the board it can be diffi-cult to get patients to floss, braces or not. Floss-ing is the best way to get rid of plaque buildup between the teeth. Brush-ing alone does a poor job reaching between the teeth. Braces are basically traps that hold food and plaque between the brack-ets and along the gumline. When plaque is permitted to lie continuously on the tooth’s surface, the enamel can exhibit the effects of demineralization caused by the acid waste products naturally present in plaque. This demineral-ization presents as white spot lesions and can rapidly lead to tooth decay in these areas if the condition persists. Along with good brushing, use of a Waterpik® Water Flosser and a fluoride rinse, adding a good flossing routine to orthodontic oral hygiene will give the patient the best chance at a good outcome. There are a couple new products that will make flossing with braces easier. One is the Platypus© accomplished successfully with no threading needed -(Fig. 1). The other new innovation is the Flossfish© Media is the parent company for the Flossfish© . Hilltop . It at www.youtube.com/v/ZiKPD_ZzHw (Figs. 2-4). This product is reusable, whereas the Platypus© disposable, one-use item. is a Once the orthodontic appliances are removed, the patient is given retainers to wear. There is a new retainer cleaning system called Retainer Brite© from Raintree Essix out of Metairie, Louisiana. It is a system using tablets that dissolve in water, much like denture cleaners but formulated specially for retainers. The tablet, once dissolved in the water, cleans retainers in ten to twenty minutes. Smileshop.com sells the tablets, and offers a free battery operated sonic cleaner with the purchase of a year’s supply of tablets. The sonic cleaner uses sound waves at 5800 waves per second, deep cleaning where brushes can’t reach. Retainer Brite© has a minty flavor and removes plaque and tartar deposits and kills bacteria on retainers. dental flosser, manu-factured by Paradise Dental Technologies. It was invented by Laura Morgan, a pediatric dental hygienist. Basically it is a floss pick, but unlike most floss picks the ends that hold the floss are small enough to fit between the wire and the bracket so flossing can be 24 September/October 2010 JAOS The product works for Hawley retainers, Essix retain-ers, Invisalign aligners, nightguards, splints, and most other removable dental appliances. Orthodontics is a changing field, with new prod-ucts and technologies available all the time. The development of flossing aids for orthodontic patients will make a big difference in the oral hygiene of these patients, as well as the outcomes of their cases. Retainer Brite© will make retainers cleaner and healthier. These new products will help us give our patients the best tools for healthy, beau-tiful teeth. consists of a plastic tool that floss threads through and the tool fits between the wire and the tooth, so both the tool and the floss go behind the wire and the tooth can be flossed without threading. There is a video available demonstrating the use of the Floss-fish©
Journal of the American Orthodontic Society September-October 2010: Page 24
