Can I Still Eat Any Food I Want With Braces On?
Getting your braces means embarking yourself in a year and a half of treatment at best. To keep this time from being any longer than needed, keeping your braces in good shape is essential. To prevent any damage to them, the patient must avoid some foods that can either break or deteriorate the brackets and wiring. You should also avoid some food because they make maintaining good oral hygiene very difficult and tedious.
You will find that although some of your favorite foods are off the table, there will be plenty of treats and salty snacks that you can enjoy all throughout your treatment. Just remember to wash your teeth thoroughly after every meal and avoid hard or sticky foods.
What Foods to Avoid With Braces?
As said previously, you generally want to avoid hard and sticky foods as they will wear the brackets on your teeth. Eating this kind of food continuously could result in a bracket or a wire coming out of place. Here are some sticky or hard foods that you definitely want to avoid.
- Popcorn,
- Toffee,
- Nuts,
- Ice,
- Sticky or hard chocolate,
- Sticky or hard candy,
- Chips,
- Hamburgers,
- Tough or big cuts of meats,
- Marshmallows,
- Raw or crunchy vegetables.
Sugary beverages and foods should also be off-limits as they leave a thin layer on the teeth that can cause damage to the exterior layer of any tooth. Normally, it would be easy to remove any food debris as you could just brush your teeth but given that the braces make it a harder task to clean all your mouth properly, avoiding them is the best option.
As said, these are only some of the foods you should avoid. Whenever you are considering eating something, and you’re not sure if it’s all right to eat, ask yourself if it will stick to your teeth or braces or if taking a bite of it can damage the brackets and wiring, and if proper cleaning afterward is possible.
What Foods to Eat With Braces
When it comes to eating with braces your best option will always be soft foods. They won’t damage the brackets nor the metal wiring of the braces and will be much easier to clean from any crevices compared to hard or sticky foods.
At first, you’ll feel discomfort and as you try to get accustomed to living with braces, to help out your orthodontist may recommend only soft foods for the first days. Here are a few soft foods to give you an idea.
- Pasta,
- Soft cheeses,
- Bread,
- Oatmeal,
- Soft vegetables,
- Scrambled egg,
- Pudding,
- Soft fruits,
- Soup,
- Yogurt.
A few other things to look out for are soft foods that can cause trouble such as citrus or spicy food, as well as ice cream. They are ok to eat during the rest of your braces treatment, but for the first days, when your mouth is much more sensible, it is best to avoid them.
Other foods such as fruits, like apples and mangos, corn on the cob, or even meat can be acceptable to eat but only when sliced into smaller pieces. One thing to keep in mind is that you will have to learn to eat slightly differently. Not only should you be taking smaller bites, but you should also start relying more on your molars to eat, and try to use your front teeth as little as possible.
Why It’s So Important to Have Good Dental Hygiene
Although we try to avoid the more difficult food to clean, everything you eat will leave some sort of trail behind, so cleaning these residuals is essential to prevent any possible tooth decay or cavities that could occur. Failure to maintain proper dental hygiene will most likely lead to a need for another dental treatment, which is probably the last thing you would want after wearing braces for a couple of years.
To prevent any undesired results, the best thing you can do is brush your teeth every time you eat. It’s important to clean all the little crevices between the brackets and the teeth as well as to make sure nothing is stuck between the teeth themselves; don’t forget to floss to get to the harder places.
If the orthodontist has given you special tools to clean your braces use them as frequently as possible. Pay attention to your orthodontist’s instructions and follow them daily if you want to have the best result possible.
Keep Yourself Informed
The best thing you can do to maintain good oral health is to keep yourself informed on what to eat and what to avoid, as well as to know how to clean your braces properly and to do it every day. If you want information on proper oral hygiene or would like to make an appointment, don’t hesitate to contact us.
