How much time do you spend on braces-related tasks a day? (cooking specific food, cleaning, etc.)

[nhyn]

Hi all,
I am thinking about getting braces (already did the evaluation, the next step is just to get the actual braces but I'm postponing it till I know if I have to move next year), and was just wondering how much time daily I should expect to spend on braces-related tasks such as cleaning teeth, cooking (my husband and I cook together but I'm guessing we'd have to make a separate thing for me since I won't be able to eat a lot of chewy, fibrous, or hard food?), and other things I'm not aware of? For those who got braces/are wearing them, did you wait until you have a calmer period in your life to get braces, or just get them when you feel like you're ready even if you're really busy? A lot of posts here seem quite positive and didn't mention that braces interfere with their daily lives, but it does seem like this one big extra thing you have to spend time on every day, and was wondering how that would affect other aspects of people's lives.
Thanks!

[ItsFreyja]

Hi nhyn! Those are really excellent questions. I think there are two kinds of issues to address here: compliance with oral care and removables wear, and dietary adaptations.

Personally, with respect to the first, I would have been terrible with braces during my grad school years. Due to a crazy around-the-clock schedule I was not that great with my oral care without braces! I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been super compliant with elastics or retainer wear either. With braces, brushing after eating or drinking is pretty important. Obviously you don't want to walk around with food in your teeth, and plaque builds up a lot more tenaciously with braces too. I see enough people with obvious decalcification spots on their teeth from bad oral care during braces as kids to know I don't want to be one of them. I probably spend 20 minutes a day cleaning my teeth now and I wouldn't want to skimp on that.

The cooking-and-eating issues, on the other hand, are not as big a deal as I thought they would be when I was contemplating braces. I cook for my family of 4 nightly and we all eat the same thing, with few exceptions. There are a few foods we'll all just skip for a year, but there hasn't been an asparagus riot yet! Most foods are okay with braces if you cut them into small pieces and eat slowly. The first couple days after an adjustment I do skip dinner (and eat a huge bowl of ice cream after the kids go to bed!), and I make myself a breakfast smoothie in the morning almost every day, but that's about it. Hope that's helpful.

[NeilH]

I found cleaning my teeth at the beginning took a lot longer (it still does) but considered this a good investment in time to ensure the best possible end result. In so far as diet, absolutely no change whatsoever. I still cook the same food, just take a bit more care when eating and avoid foods that may cause a problem (eg curry will stain the power chains). It's surprising just how quickly you forget you have them so don't worry about major life changes, the novelty soon wears off!

[Viconia]

Teeth cleaning does take longer until you learn how to use your tools, be it floss, interdental brushes or a waterpik or a combination of the above. I reckon I spend 20-30 minutes a day cleaning my teeth.

Food wise I eat the same pretty much, and except for once making the same mistake as Neil and eating curry and ending up with stained ligs, the only difference is I don't snack. Snacking = cleaning and I try to keep brushing to a minimum at work as my job is busy.

[EWUgal15]

Teeth cleaning does take longer until you learn how to use your tools, be it floss, interdental brushes or a waterpik or a combination of the above. I reckon I spend 20-30 minutes a day cleaning my teeth.

Food wise I eat the same pretty much, and except for once making the same mistake as Neil and eating curry and ending up with stained ligs, the only difference is I don't snack. Snacking = cleaning and I try to keep brushing to a minimum at work as my job is busy.

This pretty much sums it up.

As for timing when I got them...I waited until I had a steady career (so steady and consistent income) and college was winding down. I'm one of the lucky few who landed their job before their degree and that made transitioning out of college super easy, but that's another story. Anyway, since college was on cruise control and my job is very flexible with my schedule, it was easier to make the time commitments to all of the appointments (with the orthodontist and an oral surgeon).

Day to day, braces don't have much of an effect. The adjustment appointments are pretty quick and are spaced anywhere from 4-9 weeks apart. The techs at the practice I go to are super informative when they're scheduling appointments and they are very good at telling me how long to expect my next appointment to take. I won't lie and say that I don't spend time on them...I do, but daily its not a major time suck. The days where I do spend a ton of time on my braces are usually days when I visit the regular dentist...mainly because my orthodontist and my dentist prefer that I have my wires removed before a cleaning, so that results in 2 visits to the orthodontist and the visit to the dentist. But those days are once every 6 months. So really not a big deal. And I normally try to work it out so that I have an adjustment the same day as the dentist so its a little more functional.

[parsleysage]

I no longer brush after every meal. That didn't work for me because of the timing of my meals as related to my work schedule - I was spending more time in the bathroom at work cleaning my teeth than I felt was ethical (and don't have the option not to pay myself for those times as I work in a call center so my schedule is strictly set via our staffing system and deviations have to be approved). Additionally, my dentist strongly recommends waiting 20-30 minutes after eating to brush, something about pH and erosion of enamel, so that further complicates the timing issue.

Anyway... having confessed that sin, I find that swishing vigorously with water 3-4x, using a proxy brush, and chewing gum (sin #2) take care of 95% of my post-meal mess. Overall, with a quick wakeup manual brush (maybe 1 min), proxy brushing and occasional string-flossing throughout the day, and in the evening a Waterpik sesh (or two depending on what I've recently eaten) and an electric brush, we're looking at, eh, 10-15 minutes.

I don't have to cook special foods. Occasionally, if a big change is made at an adjustment or I'm returning to compliance with my elastics after a period of noncompliance (sin #3, god I'm confessing ALL my sins tonight!), my teeth will ache and I will need to turn to things like chili, mac & cheese, soup, smoothies, etc. for 24 hours. But those are all normal foods for us anyway. Otherwise, I avoid corn on the cob and popcorn and asparagus, and I cut up my apples and take the chicken meat off the wing rather than biting in... but other than that I eat normally. I even eat cashews (sin #4).

The first few months of braces will feel like everything is different, especially because you'll have changes to your wires, elastics, powerchains, etc. nearly every single adjustment. After awhile, adjustments get way more boring and the changes only come every 3rd or 4th time, you'll be on your "finishing" wire forever, etc. At first you'll be obsessed with cleaning your teeth (if only for an excuse to stare at your braces for 30 minutes) but in time that eagerness will fade, too. And it should! Despite what the Invisalign commercial says, life DOES go on during your braces treatment and you'll get excited about other things. I promise you'll adapt beautifully. And once you see the result you could never regret it!

[sheilas]

I spend about 20 minutes a day on cleaning activities. I realise that I have become more obsessed with cleaning more than ever before. As for food/cooking activities - I have always been a pre-planner and experimented on a soup diet a few months for another reason. I have accumulated some good soup and stew recipes that were my go-to for the first few days. I do prepare them ahead to take for lunch at work, where brushing isn't that much of a hassle then. I cook and eat normal food for dinner. My favorite breakfast items right now are banana/croissant, finely grated apple in porridge, hash brown/baked beans/scrambled eggs. All these are so easy to eat/prepare, and I don't leave home without eating/brushing!

[ljms]

I spend about 45 minutes a day cleaning. The longest is when I floss. Brushing and flossing take about 25 minutes.

I don't spend any additional time cooking. My husband eats what I eat, snacks (i.e. popcorn) not withstanding.

When I got braces, I started making soups from scratch. It's really easy and home made soup makes a surprisingly filling dinner. Soup also freezes well so it's convient too. I get my braces off today and my husband made me promise that I won't stop making soup.

[EWUgal15]

I no longer brush after every meal. That didn't work for me because of the timing of my meals as related to my work schedule - I was spending more time in the bathroom at work cleaning my teeth than I felt was ethical (and don't have the option not to pay myself for those times as I work in a call center so my schedule is strictly set via our staffing system and deviations have to be approved). Additionally, my dentist strongly recommends waiting 20-30 minutes after eating to brush, something about pH and erosion of enamel, so that further complicates the timing issue.

Anyway... having confessed that sin, I find that swishing vigorously with water 3-4x, using a proxy brush, and chewing gum (sin #2) take care of 95% of my post-meal mess. Overall, with a quick wakeup manual brush (maybe 1 min), proxy brushing and occasional string-flossing throughout the day, and in the evening a Waterpik sesh (or two depending on what I've recently eaten) and an electric brush, we're looking at, eh, 10-15 minutes.

I don't have to cook special foods. Occasionally, if a big change is made at an adjustment or I'm returning to compliance with my elastics after a period of noncompliance (sin #3, god I'm confessing ALL my sins tonight!), my teeth will ache and I will need to turn to things like chili, mac & cheese, soup, smoothies, etc. for 24 hours. But those are all normal foods for us anyway. Otherwise, I avoid corn on the cob and popcorn and asparagus, and I cut up my apples and take the chicken meat off the wing rather than biting in... but other than that I eat normally. I even eat cashews (sin #4).

The first few months of braces will feel like everything is different, especially because you'll have changes to your wires, elastics, powerchains, etc. nearly every single adjustment. After awhile, adjustments get way more boring and the changes only come every 3rd or 4th time, you'll be on your "finishing" wire forever, etc. At first you'll be obsessed with cleaning your teeth (if only for an excuse to stare at your braces for 30 minutes) but in time that eagerness will fade, too. And it should! Despite what the Invisalign commercial says, life DOES go on during your braces treatment and you'll get excited about other things. I promise you'll adapt beautifully. And once you see the result you could never regret it!

You should track down the orthodontic sins thread. There's some hilarious stuff in there too!

[nhyn]

thank you for all the detailed and thoughtful replies! This is so very useful. I expected to spend a lot of time cleaning my teeth with braces, but knowing that people don't have to spend hours on it is reassuring. And the tip about cooking soup to bring to work to avoid having to clean teeth too much is excellent! I do like soup and cook soup (from scratch) every so often, but we like to make soup stocks that require a bit of planning (to let it cook for hours etc.), and I can't imagine a diet with just soup would be very fun for both me and my husband, avid soup lovers as we are. But it is again reassuring to know that everyone seems to find eating normal food not a problem (I'm assuming that also means eating normal food won't make cleaning teeth a pain later).
@ItsFreyja: I'm in grad school now too so thank you for the tip!