What Type of Toothpaste Should You Use with Braces?

Ah, braces. For many, a sometimes-challenging rite of passage that yields beautiful results. If you’re currently straightening your teeth or know someone who is doing so at your significant financial expense, you probably want to make sure you do everything you can to make the road towards better-aligned teeth as comfortable and successful as possible. That means choosing the right supporting cast of oral care products to improve the journey. So let’s dig into what you should consider when purchasing.

Brushing with Braces: How to Find the Right Paste

Look, we are HUGE proponents of finding the right toothpaste for your particular braces sitch, and we’ll get into that shortly. But brace yourself for this bit of knowledge first: Making sure that you brush with adequate frequency might in fact be the most important part of brushing with braces. “Adequate” means properly brushing after every meal. And thoroughness of brushing is also super important. This is because of all the nooks and crannies that braces create – it’s like you’re playing hide-and-go-seek with food and drink particles, and they’ve got an unfair advantage. But yes, now we can talk toothpaste. Because we think it’s probably easier to remember to brush (and actually follow through with meticulous technique) when you have a great-tasting paste that meets all of your mouth’s needs. So here are some thoughts on that perfect toothpaste for your braces (and its mouth washing sidekicks).

Always Choose Moisturizing Pastes

Though they perform many tooth-straightening good deeds, braces can also cause some irritation and discomfort in your mouth. All of that hardware may scrape up the inside of your cheeks (who have done NOTHING to deserve that kind of treatment). So you should choose a toothpaste that’s effective, yet gentle. We love our Sensitivity Relief paste for moisturizing, as it contains both coconut oil and aloe vera – the gentlest one-two punch you’ll ever experience. And for further moisturizing, our Naturally Healthy mouthwash is a great follow-up choice (Again: our friends aloe vera and coconut oil at play here.)

Consider Fluoride Toothpaste

In addition to brushing and moisturizing frequently, we recommend using a toothpaste that contains fluoride. This is because fluoride can prove helpful in minimizing the potential for tooth decay around the areas where braces make contact with teeth. Here are some of our favorite fluoride toothpaste options. And post-paste, it may also be a good idea to double-up with a fluoride mouthwash. This is because a brisk swish can be effective for hitting those hard-to-reach spots known to foil even the most diligent of braces-brushers. (Hint: we make a Wild Strawberry fluoride rinse that you don’t want to miss out on. Its like the perfect post-brushing reward.)

Finally, some braces-wearing folks out there have concerns about what products they shouldn’t use on their teeth. This often includes questions about the safety of using charcoal pastes. The short answer is that hello’s charcoal products are safe to use if you have braces. To get our full take on it, check out this cute little video. P.S. Did you brush after lunch today…? You should probably go brush 😉