What can you eat while you have braces? – Staten Island and Brooklyn orthodontist
Braces provide a lifetime of benefits, but they do require investment of time and energy while you’re wearing them, to get the best results. Many patients ask Dr. AlJanabi about what they can eat while they’re wearing their braces. There are only a few simple rules about this, so it’s not too complicated. These apply whether you’re wearing metal braces, clear braces, or lingual braces. (Those undergoing treatment with clear aligners don’t need to worry about what they eat, because they take out the aligners while eating.)
No sticky foods
Very sticky foods can pull the brackets off of your teeth. Foods like gum, licorice, gummy bears, caramel, or taffy are too sticky to eat while you have braces. In general, creamy peanut butter is okay, because it melts enough that it won’t pull off your brackets. However, very sticky peanut butter should be avoided. Also, crunchy peanut butter should be avoided because of the hardness of the peanuts in it.
No hard or very crunchy foods
Biting into something very hard, like a nut, can push the brackets off of your teeth, or can bend or break the archwires. You should avoid eating hard foods while you have braces. The kernels of popcorn are very hard, and because it’s not easy to tell which pieces of popcorn have hard kernels inside, you should avoid eating popcorn while you have braces.
Biting into a crunchy food, such as an apple, can also be a problem. You don’t have to avoid apples, but it’s better to cut up to eat them while you have braces, instead of biting into a whole apple. Similarly, don’t bite corn directly off of the cob; instead, cut it off of the cob and then eat it. Raw carrots should also be avoided while you have braces.
Be careful with chewy foods
Chewy foods, such as bagels or other chewy bread, can be eaten carefully while you have braces. However, biting into a bagel or piece of chewy bread could push your brackets off, so you should tear or cut the bagel into smaller bite-sized pieces in order to eat it. Make sure that the pieces are small and manageable, so you can chew them carefully.
Very chewy foods, like beef jerky, should be avoided while you have braces.
Mouth soreness
During the first day or two after you visit Dr. AlJanabi to have your braces adjusted, you may feel soreness in your mouth. As your teeth move, there can be some discomfort. During this time, you may prefer to eat soft foods that require minimal chewing. Cold foods may also help to ease the discomfort, especially if you have a heat-activated archwire (the cold will soften the wire and temporarily relieve some of the tension on your teeth).