DON’T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT IT!
My on the go oral hygiene kit is ALWAYS in my bag! Instead of buying a premade one, I decided to put together my own and buy products that I think would be useful for me. Everything I have in this bag is from Walmart or Target and is very affordable. I'm sure other stores such as CVS and Walgreens will have them too! The items were found in the oral care section and the aisle where they keep their travel size products. {I've included links to some products for your convenience}
1. Pink cosmetic bag is very compact and fits everything that is in the picture.
I really like this bag because of the shape and the material of the bag. It's spacious enough yet when it zips up, it doesn't take up too much space in my school bag or purse. It dries pretty fast whenever I accidentally splash water on it. The inside is easy to clean too (you can just wipe it down with a towel)(~2$ at target). There are plenty of substitutions for this if you don't want to get a new bag. If you'r a girl i'm almost 99.9% sure that you have extra makeup bags you don't use. You can also use a simple ziploc bag and that'll do the job.
2. Travel size mouth wash.
I like to have nice clean breath now that I can’t chew gum and I much prefer this over mints. If you travel a lot, you might even have the small bottles from hotels around the house.
3. Breath spray becomes a handy tool whenever my mouth needs a quick pick me up.
4. Travel size toothpaste and fold up tooth brush.
I know it’s a pain to brush your teeth in public but it’s so much more important now with braces. Food gets stuck in the brackets, twisted up in the wire, just allllll over the place. I don’t want to smile and showcase the world what I had for lunch so I still do it even if it’s a pain.
TIP: Always give yourself enough time to brush; i usually factor in 10 minutes just in case something goes wrong. For me I have school so I always make sure I save enough time during my lunch break to clean up.
TIP: ignore any funny looks you might get from strangers; once they see your braces they'll understand. Even if they don't understand, taking care of your teeth is so much more important than what anyone else has to say so just ignore them and brush on!
This will save your mouth the first few days. I haven’t had to use it recently because my mouth has gotten used to the brackets, but I was extremely glad I had wax on hand when I first got my braces. Certain brackets caused me irritation and the hooks from the back brackets just poked different parts of my mouth, but the wax just created a smooth barrier so my lips could just slide over them smoothly. I literally wanted to wax up my entire mouth during Day 2 because they were so darn painful!
TIP: use a Q-tip to dry the bracket and the tooth that is bothering you before putting on the wax. This will help keep the wax on there a lot longer. PS: you don't need a big glob of wax; smaller than a pea size will do the job. just roll it in a teeny ball and cover the problem area.
TIP: the orthodontist will most likely send you away with a little pack that includes a toothbrush and wax if you want to hold out on buying these items. I didn't really like the clear pencil pouch that they gave me because it took up to much space so i decided to use it as a backup.
TIP: don't forget to remove your wax before eating! once they've been chilling in there for so long and your mouth starts to feel more "comfortable" you're gonna totally forget about them and you're gonna wonder why your food tastes so waxy
6. The plackers orthopick is a recent addition to my bag.
The original brand that I was after was from dentek because that was the only brand I saw that had special flossers for braces. UPDATE: they’re now available {online at walmart}. The dentek ones were only available in store when i was searching for them but they were never at any Walmart that i’ve been to. I came across the placker brand just a few days ago and I definitely stocked up!! {these babies are only available in store} These little gems are amazing!! I no longer have to weave in and out of the metal wire just to floss my teeth. Using the weaving method took foreverrr!!
TIP: when using the placker flosser, kind of tilt your hand so the flat end goes through the wire at an angle. with normal flossers, you can go straight down but these things need a slight adjustment. No worries, i’m sure you’ll be able to figure it out once you get the hang of it
7. The angle brushes are a pretty nifty tool.They’re really easy to manipulate around the brackets to help clean up anything that the toothbrush didn’t quite get to.
TIP: make sure you clean all 4 sides of the brackets. it saves me time when i clean it in this order:
top surface of brackets on the top teeth; top surface of all the brackets on the bottom teeth
bottom surface of brackets on top teeth; bottom surface of brackets on bottom teeth
side brackets of adjacent teeth in top row; side brackets of adjacent teeth in bottom row.
don't try to do all the surfaces of one bracket and then do all the surfaces of the next one; this will take up more time and I know the last thing I want to do is give these suckers more attention then I absolutely need to.
I picked this up just in case my mouth ever gets irritated and painful but honestly, I haven’t used it YET. I might have to use it soon though because I feel a piece of wire poking me in my lower cheek (good news though because this means my teeth have shifted! Woot).
total cost of this kit was ~12-15$
This little kit of mine comes with me wherever I go. It’s small and fits in my purse and school bag. I switch from bag to bag depending on what I’m doing so having everything in a small cosmetic bag makes the moving around a lot more convenient. I seriously never leave the house without it because I want the option to eat whenever I want and not have to feel embarrassed with food hanging out of my mouth.
I need to add a compact mirror & a few tylenol to my kit but I think that’s all I need for now. Until next time! smile on! =D
