If your kid has braces, you need to know about this…

I’m a huge proponent of orthodontia (price tag aside), and if I had to do it all over again knowing what I know now and didn’t know then, I would have totally become an orthodontist (or a cosmetic dermatologist). I only had braces for about 10 months around 10th grade (although I recently got a retainer-based minor re-straightening), and my son is in the early stages of oral realignment with a top retainer, fixed bottom space-maintainer and headgear (which has affirmed my need for reading glasses, but that’s another story).

Beyond my overwhelming fear that he would lose his retainer at camp (he didn’t and got thousands of V-Bucks as a reward), there’s no way around the ongoing quest for cleanliness. Did you floss? Did you use the threader? “Mom, will you soak my retainer when I’m at school today?” The thought of the potential microbial growth on his oral appliances literally makes me sick to my stomach.

I basically found the equivalent to a Xanax for dealing with your kids’ oral hygiene—especially when they have braces or other fixed orthodontics. It’s called OrthoFoam—and if there was a way to safely spray Lysol into their mouths, this is basically it. The kids can brush with it, swish with it or use it to clean their retainers or aligners, and the bubble-gum flavor has managed to stave off any and all full-out brawls thus far.

Let’s be honest… Whether they’re at home or away at camp, unless you stand over your kid and monitor their oral-hygiene routine, you really have no idea what they are or are not doing, until the dentist tells you their teeth are literally rotting out of their head. This battle-free foam has given me major peace of mind that bacteria, tooth decay and overall mouth cleanliness are in check—because I don’t trust my kid in terms of oral health as far as I could throw him.

P.S. If you’re going the aligner-tray route instead of traditional braces, the AlignerFresh spray serves up sanitizing, breath-freshening and gradual teeth-whitening benefits with just a few spritzes a day (and it works for retainers, too).