What food to avoid with braces?
It is very important that you avoid sticky, chewy, hard, and crunchy foods while you are in braces. Also avoid harmful habits such as chewing on ice, pen caps, or your fingernails. These types of foods and habits can damage your braces, cause unnecessary complications, and extend your treatment time by many months.
There are many food items are not listed. A rule of thumb is that if it looks hard or sticky, you should avoid eating it. Also to remember, with fruits such as apple or pears, make sure to cut it into bite size pieces before eating.
AVOID during Braces treatment
No Sticky and Hard Candies
Do Not Drink Soda
Avoid Hard and Chewy Food
Stop Bad Biting Habits
Here is a brief list, courtesy of parenthood.com, of things that you should avoid while in braces:
- Apples: Don’t bite into a whole one! Cut it into thin wedges first.
- Bagels and hard rolls: Convicted culprits of bending wires and loosening brackets.
- Beef jerky: Your braces don’t stand a chance against this leathery food
- Bubble gum: Trust us, there’s nothing worse than spending hours picking gum from your braces.
- Candy canes or suckers: You might weaken and take a bite!
- Caramels and chewy candies: And you thought bubble gum was messy.
- Chicken wings and Ribs: You can enjoy these if you first cut the meat off the bone.
- Corn chips: Anything that crunches when you bite it is bad news for braces.
- Corn on the cob: If you must, remove the kernels from the cob with a knife, then enjoy!
- Hard cookies: Good news: You can have these if you soften them with milk.
- Ice cubes: No crunching!
- Peanut brittle: Anything that crunches when you bite it is bad news for braces.
- Nuts: All varieties—including peanuts, cashews and almonds—are off limits.
- Pickles: If you have a craving, cut them into bite-sized pieces.
- Popcorn: Great with movies, bad with braces.
- Pizza Crust: Good news: the rest of the pie is fine!
- Pretzels: Bends wires, loosens bands and knocks off brackets.
- Raw carrots: If have a Bugs Bunny-like adoration for these orange veggies, steam or boil them for a much less crunchy consistency.
- Sugary candy: Can lodge beneath brackets and wires, leading to tooth decay.
- Taffy: It’s best to avoid this stuff entirely—even if you don’t have braces!
- Burgers and Sandwiches: You can cut it up into bite size pieces
What food can I eat with braces?
There’s still many delicious food you can eat. Remember to be careful while chewing your food and always avoid eating anything very sticky or hard while you have braces on. You can cut up your food into bite size pieces.
