What Not to Eat When You Have Braces

Traditional braces come with a few rules. It’s extremely important that you take care of your teeth by eating only the foods that will support your treatment progress. With metal braces, you need to be mindful of the brackets and the wires and how certain foods can affect all the moving parts. It takes some time to get the hang of it, but with a little practice, you’ll learn what not to eat when you have braces.

At OMG Smiles, we want our patients to go home with a good idea of what they can and can’t eat with braces. Even if you eat only the healthiest, softest, and most beneficial foods, you still need to make sure that you brush and floss your teeth regularly when you have braces. Otherwise, you can end up with tooth decay that results from having leftover bits of food stuck in the brackets and the wires. If you weren’t a gold-star tooth-brusher before you got traditional braces, then you’ll need to get your act together to avoid suffering the negative consequences of poor dental hygiene during your tooth straightening treatment. If you stick to eating foods from the approved list, you’ll be less likely to experience negative repercussions in the form of tooth decay, but extra brushing and flossing are essential. Don’t ignore good dental hygiene practices even if you stick to the recommended foods for braces.

Immediately after you get your braces put on, you’ll need to eat primarily soft foods. At OMG Smiles, we recommend that patients avoid eating tough meats and hard breads. Anything that requires the patient to rip the food using the tooth is a bad choice. Raw vegetables can be painful during the first few days after the braces are put in place because the teeth will feel a little loose in the mouth. Consider making smoothies or eating foods like mashed potatoes or soups during the initial days following the installation of traditional braces. These foods will not only protect your orthodontic appliances but also quell any pain that you might experience from eating foods that are too hard while your mouth is adjusting to the treatment.

A good food strategy to keep in mind when you get metal braces is to cut the foods up into tiny pieces. Use your back teeth to chew the food and eat slowly. Eating slowly can actually benefit your overall health because you may find that you eat less food overall! People who wear traditional braces may find that they learn to enjoy their food in a new way as a result of having to cut the food into smaller pieces and because they have to chew more slowly. At any rate, if you end up at a restaurant with friends and family and you’re unsure about what to order, choose something on the menu that’s either soft or that can be cut up into tiny pieces. And don’t forget to take your toothbrush and floss along with you to clean the teeth after you finish eating!

Below is a list of some specific foods that you should try to avoid eating while you have braces:

• Taffy, licorice, and other candies that are sticky or hard
• Bagels
• Hard roll
• Meats that must be “torn” with the teeth
• Crunchy foods like ice, nuts, or popcorn
• Sticky foods like caramel or chewing gum
• Hard pretzels
• Foods that you have to bite into such as apples, carrots, corn on the cob (You can cut these foods up to eat them.)

In addition to the foods to avoid, there are also behaviors that you’ll need to avoid while you’re wearing metal braces. For example, if you chew on your fingernails, pens, or pencils, you’ll need to stop this behavior while you’re wearing braces, or you’ll risk damaging the wires and brackets. If you damage the wires and brackets, your treatment could be delayed or you’ll have to go in and have these parts replaced, which can be costly and time-consuming. At OMG Smiles, we encourage our patients to work on these bad habits during their treatment with braces and to approach the situation as an opportunity rather than an inconvenience.

If during the course of treatment, you notice that a metal bracket comes loose and is no longer attached to the tooth, that means that particular tooth is no longer moving. Indeed, that tooth could start to move back to its original location, and it could even impede the movement of the other teeth. So, a loose bracket needs to be put back into place as soon as possible or else your treatment could be set back, causing the overall process to take longer or you might end up with poorer results. Of course, by paying attention to your diet, you’ll be less likely to break brackets off your teeth, but if you bite your nails or chew on your pencils, you could still end up with broken wires or brackets that need to be replaced.

Below is a list of ideal foods for OMG Smiles’ patients to eat in the initial week or two after getting braces. These foods are great mainstays throughout the treatment process. They’re healthy and they also put very little stress on the wires, brackets, and moving teeth as treatment progresses:

• Yogurt
• Soups
• Mashed potatoes
• Oatmeal
• Eggs
• Rice
• Soft fruits
• Seafood
• Soft cheese
• Oatmeal
• Steamed or cooked soft vegetables
• Pasta
• Soft desserts such as cake or pudding

Anything that’s easy to chew is a good choice for someone who’s wearing braces. Tooth sensitivity diminishes quickly after a few days to about a week after the brackets and wires are put in place at the beginning of treatment. Right after adjustments, the teeth may be sore for a couple of days as well. The above list of foods can get you through this time period when the teeth adjust and then you can resume a fairly normal diet.

At OMG Smiles, we recommend that patients avoid irritating the mouth as much as possible particularly right after the initial installation of the braces as well as after adjustments each month. Below are additional foods to avoid during that time:

• Ice cream and popsicles
• Spicy foods
• Citrus foods
• Thick breads
• Thick, chewy cuts of meat

At OMG Smiles, Dr. Amy Buchler’s mission is to create beautiful smiles and satisfied patients. Contact OMG Smiles today for more information and to schedule an appointment to get your orthodontic treatment underway. There’s no time like the present to start straightening teeth and perfecting smiles.