Food to Avoid With Braces
A healthy diet means a healthy body, healthy teeth, and better orthodontic treatment results! You can usually use common sense about food that can affect your orthodontic appliances and the health of your teeth. Hard, crunchy foods can damage brackets or wires, which can actually move your teeth in the wrong direction and cause treatment delays, while sugary foods can eat away at your teeth and cause cavities. Also, beware of nail biting and pen or pencil chewing habits since these can damage your braces.
Bottom line, what is important is how to eat the food more important than what you eat. Always remember to eat “Small Pieces, Small Bites, and Slow down while Eating”
Foods to Avoid When Wearing Braces
- Popcorn
- Nuts
- Hard taco shells
- Sticky and hard candy
- Gum
- Ice
- Corn chips
- Pretzels
- Hard cookies or crackers
- Sticky or hard chocolate
Try to avoid biting into hard foods with your front teeth. When possible, cut up these hard foods into smaller pieces:
- Raw vegetables
- Croutons
- French/Italian bread
- Fruit
- Hard rolls
- Thin crust pizza
- Meat
- Burgers
- Sub sandwiches
- Corn on the cob
Recommended Foods When Wearing Braces
- Yogurt
- Bananas, grapes, oranges, strawberries, and other fruits without pits
- Cheese
- Mashed potatoes
- Peanut butter and jelly
- Ravioli, spaghetti, macaroni and cheese, and other noodle dishes
Maintaining a healthy, nutritious diet is important for oral health and overall health. The healthier your body is, the better the results of your orthodontic treatment because a proper diet provides essential nutrients to bones and tissues undergoing significant change during braces treatment.