Braces Food Guide — Foods to Avoid With Braces

If you took the decision to have braces then good on you – doing so will have ensured that your teeth grow as straight as possible and that you end up with straight and even teeth. While you might go through a little discomfort now, and while they might not look all that attractive, in the long run it is certainly going through a months or years of that if it means you end up with an ideal set of teeth in the future.

You also need to remember that braces aren’t just a form of cosmetic dentistry – they are also something that is very good for you and if your teeth or your jaw aren’t properly aligned, or if your mouth is overcrowded, then such things can lead to a variety of problems in the long term.

Now you’ve bitten the bullet (sorry for the pun) and gotten braces though the question is how to make sure that the months or years of metal in your mouth are worth it? Well one thing you need to do is to ensure that you eat correctly and that you avoid the foods that can cause a potential problem. This is very important as otherwise you might find that you not only damage the braces, but that you actually cause more damage to your teeth than even if you hadn’t have had braces in the first place – the reason being that the braces can actually end up ‘holding’ the food against your teeth for long periods so that more damage is caused over time.

Here are a few foods to avoid if you have braces…

Anything Hard, Including:

  • Hard candy
  • Popcorn
  • Certain hard sweets
  • Ice
  • Pizza crusts
  • Whole apples
  • Whole carrots
  • Peanut brittle

Anything along these lines can risk actually breaking the braces, or just causing loose bands and bent wires. Some things such as apples can still be eaten if you try cutting them up into small pieces first.

Anything Sticky/Chewy:

  • Caramel
  • Gum
  • Gummy bears
  • Protein bars
  • Candy floss
  • Candy
  • Tough meat

Here the problem again is that they can cause damage to your braces, as well as potentially getting stuck underneath the braces and then being very difficult to remove.

Anything Acidic:

  • Sodas
  • Oranges
  • Apples
  • Lemons
  • Lemon juice

These can stain the teeth as well as damaging the enamel. The real problem here is that it is very difficult to clean the teeth underneath the braces meaning that the problem can continue.

Sugary Foods:

  • Any sweets
  • Sodas
  • Fruit smoothies
  • Very processed foods

The problem here is again that it is difficult to clean the teeth under the braces and that sugar causes the production of more plaque (it is ‘food’ for the bacteria in your mouth).

When living with braces this can involve avoiding a lot of different foods. Note that it is possible in some cases to avoid braces and to instead use removable solutions such as ‘Invisalign’ which is a transparent shield which can fix over the teeth and be removed when you eat. Such methods have strengths and weaknesses when compared to braces so discuss with your dentist and consider the pros and cons before making a decision.

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