Foods to Avoid with Braces

Donning braces can do your teeth a lot of good but your diet may have to change significantly. While you can still eat most of the foods you have been eating all along, you need to concentrate more on those that give your teeth strength while avoiding those that will harm you. Here are foods to avoid with braces.

Popcorn

You might have developed the habit of eating popcorn when watching films in the cinema or at home. Popcorn kernels often slip into cracks in your teeth and lodge themselves in there until you brush your teeth or floss. If you have braces on, more pieces attach to the spaces and you might have a very difficult time removing them. Be keen to choose another snack to eat during your next movie date.

Chewing Gum

Chewing gum out of habit or by chance may not be a very smart thing to do if you have wires and brackets. The gum usually becomes stickier by the minute and can get easily attached to your braces. Trying to remove it will not only be challenging but might destroy your wires.

Tough Beef

Tough beef requires an immense amount of energy to chew. This may require you to apply a lot of pressure on your teeth and the braces by extension. You could pop off your brackets in the process, thus necessitating extra trips to the orthodontist. Eat tender or grilled beef instead and preserve your braces.

Nuts

The hard shell on nuts makes them one of the foods you should avoid. The nuts themselves also tend to break into tiny pieces that will lodge into the small spaces between your teeth and braces. If not removed properly and on time, they may accumulate bacteria that produce acidic waste that will eventually corrode the upper enamel and cause cavities.

Ice

While mildly cold drinks and foods might not cause significant danger to your teeth and braces, extremely cold foods and ice will. The low temperatures will cause the metal to shrink at a different rate from your teeth causing them to come off. Avoid cold foods for as long as you can while wearing braces.

General dental procedures like flossing and brushing your teeth are difficult to perform with brackets and wires on. Consult your orthodontic specialist on what foods you should eat in order to minimize complex cleaning requirements. Get in touch with us at Runnels Orthodontics for further diet guidance, contact us today! We have offices conveniently located in Destin and Inlet Beach, FL.