Objective To analyze the application effect of oral health education and family nursing in orthodontic patients. Methods A total of 60 orthodontic patients received in our hospital from May 2023 to January 2024 were randomly divided into control group and experimental group, with 30 patients in each group. The control group was given routine nursing, and the experimental group was given oral health education and family nursing. The plaque index, gingival index, incidence of oral diseases and nursing satisfaction were compared between the two groups. Results The plaque index and gingival index of the experimental group were lower than those of the control group (P <0.05). The incidence of oral diseases in the experimental group was 6.67%, which was lower than 26.67% in the control group (P <0.05). The nursing satisfaction of the experimental group was 96.67%, which was higher than 76.67% of the control group (P <0.05). Conclusion The effect of oral health education combined with family nursing in orthodontic patients is ideal, which is beneficial to ensure the oral health of patients, reduce the incidence of oral diseases, and have high patient satisfaction.