The need to wear braces is extremely common, which can be seen almost everywhere you look. From family members and friends to celebrities like Britney Spears and Serena Williams, braces are a useful tool that many people benefit from.
However, when you get braces, certain things in your life will temporarily change. Eating with braces, for instance, requires avoiding specific foods throughout your treatment.
If you want to ensure your treatment goes as planned, keep reading our cheat sheet below to make eating with braces a breeze.
Why Avoiding Certain Foods Is Important
When you get braces, you have a foreign object in your mouth. This will cause discomfort on its own, so doing anything to avoid additional pain is often desired.
If you eat a particular food that you shouldn’t, the food can cause even more discomfort or pain. It could also lead to your brackets or wires getting broken, requiring more visits with your Invisalign and braces specialists.
Sometimes, this can even lead to adding more time and costs to your treatment plan.
Eating foods that you should avoid can also cause enamel erosion and tooth decay. When you have braces, avoiding sugary foods is essential, as the debris can get stuck between your brackets, leading to bacterial growth.
Foods That You Can Eat Throughout Treatment
When you are trying to eat with braces, you’ll find it can be challenging, especially after you get them tightened. Sticking to softer foods is recommended, especially at the beginning of your treatment.
You can eat soft fruit, such as blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries. Cooked vegetables are an excellent option because they are automatically softened.
Soft cooked grains and bread are highly recommended, as are yogurt, tender meat, and smooth nut spreads.
Anything that you eat should be cut up into bite-sized pieces that can be chewed with the back teeth. This will prevent brackets from popping off and can ease any discomfort that may come with chewing.
Foods to Avoid Throughout Treatment
There’s a pretty clear list of the worst food for braces. Anything that is hard, crunchy, chewy, or sticky should be strictly avoided.
Fruits and Vegetables
Hard fruit, such as apples, should be avoided unless they are cut up into small pieces that can be easily chewed by the back teeth. This same rule applies to hard raw vegetables, such as broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots.
Generally, these should be avoided as much as possible. However, because raw vegetables are essential for a healthy balanced diet, cutting them up into bite-sized pieces can allow you to still enjoy them with braces.
It would be best if you still avoided them after immediately getting your wires tightened.
Grains
You should steer clear of hard-crusted bread, such as bagels, because they can be difficult to bite into. If you are a bagel-lover, cut up your bagel into small pieces and warm it in the microwave until it is softened.
You should also avoid unground whole grains because food particles can easily get stuck between your brackets, making them difficult to remove and clean.
Nuts and seeds do not mix well with braces and eating, so they are best avoided altogether. Nuts and seeds are small and very hard, which can lead to a broken bracket or a bent wire.
If you bend one of your wires, it can cause your teeth to move in undesired ways, leading to extra treatment time. Stick to smooth nut butter, or grind nuts and seeds until they are a fine consistency, and add them as a topper to your yogurt.
Crunchy snacks should also always be avoided, such as pretzels. These can easily break off your brackets, even if you break them up into smaller pieces.
Candy
You should avoid hard and sticky candy at all costs.
As stated before, sugar and braces are a toxic mixture. It is already more difficult to clean your teeth with braces, and adding sugar into the mix can cause your oral hygiene to decline quickly.
Also, sticky candy, such as toffee, can adhere to your bands and brackets, causing them to break off easily. Hard candy can do similar damage. Gummy candy can cause your wires to bend and can get stuck under your brackets.
Tips for Eating With Braces
Certain food is hard to avoid, such as pizza and chocolate. You can still eat pizza, but because it has a hard crust, you should cut off the crust first. It would help if you also cut the pizza into bite-sized pieces and chew it slowly.
You can also eat chocolate from time to time, as it is a softer candy, but it should be consumed in moderation. It is highly recommended to choose dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate, as this has lower sugar content.
Whatever you eat, you should always be brushing and flossing your teeth directly after. Clean each tooth with a bracket in a circular motion and at a forty-five-degree angle. Try to brush your teeth at least five times a day.
Use This Cheat Sheet When Eating With Braces
Eating with braces may seem a little tricky at first, but if you use this cheat sheet, you’ll get a handle on it in no time. It requires being more deliberate with your food and occasionally having to say no to your favorite treats if they could cause damage.
Remember, this is all temporary, and it will be worth it when you have that perfect smile.
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