Alongside this, a series of videos for patients have been created to help manage their appliances including how they can take an effective video or pictures of their mouth and braces for a clinician to review, broken retainers, loose wires and lost modules. More videos are in the process of being commissioned.
Most orthodontic appliances can be left in situ for some months without causing harm to the patient if the patient continues with the usual after care instructions. In many instances, appliances will continue to work for many weeks without needing any adjustment.
As a reminder all patients should undertake these steps to protect their teeth and appliances:
- Carry out exemplary oral hygiene – brushing three times a day with their standard toothbrush, followed by interproximal brush use. As an adjunct, use of a fluoride mouth rinse once a day.
- Consume a low sugar diet - Where possible avoid all snacking on sugars and drinks with added sugar. Fizzy drinks should be avoided in particular.
- Avoid hard, sticky and hard foodstuffs that could break the brace wire or fracture brackets (debond) off a tooth.
In the coming weeks, it is likely that orthodontic patients will ring with pain, problems and loose wires. Current advice is to avoid all but the most essential mouth procedures to limit spread of COVID-19 to the wider population.
Joe Noar, director of clinical governance at the BOS said, “In these unprecedented times, we hope that these resources will be of use to our members and the wider dental community.”
The BOS COVID-19 orthodontic emergencies protocol can be found at www.bos.org.uk/News-and-Events/COVID19-BOS-Advice/BOS-COVID-19-Orthodontic-Emergencies-Protocol and the videos can be found at the BOS YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UC8RClpuFPuPbKH0LCJQ6yqA