Eating With Braces

What can you eat?

For the first two days or so, stick to soft foods. Avoid tough meats, hard breads, and raw vegetables. Before long, you'll be able to chew normally. However, you'll need to protect your orthodontic appliances when you eat for as long as you're wearing braces.

Avoid:

  • Chewy foods: Bagels, hard rolls, etc.
  • Crunchy foods: Popcorn, ice, chips, pizza crust, granola bars, etc.
  • Sticky foods: Gum, chewy candy (Skittles, taffy, Gummy Bears, caramel, Twizzlers, Starbursts, etc.)
  • Hard foods: Nuts, candy, hard pretzels
  • Foods you have to bite into: Corn on the cob, apples or carrots (cut these foods up into smaller pieces and chew on back teeth)
  • Chewing on Hard Objects (for example, pens, pencils or fingernails) can damage the braces. Damaged braces will cause treatment to take longer!

Within the first 24 hours, avoid any carbonated beverages, and drink them sparingly throughout orthodontic treatment as they contribute to the formation of white spots! Also be careful not to drink too many sports drinks (Gatorade, Powerade, etc.) as these, too, can cause decalcification during treatment.

General Soreness:

When you get your braces on, you may feel general soreness in your mouth and teeth may be tender to biting pressures for two to three days. This is completely normal and only temporary. This can be relieved by rinsing your mouth with a warm saltwater rinse. Dissolve one teaspoonful of salt in 8 ounces of warm water, and rinse your mouth vigorously. Repeat this until the glass is finished. This can be done 3-4 times a day until the sores heal. If the tenderness is severe, take aspirin or whatever you normally take for headache or similar pain. The lips, cheeks and tongue may also become irritated for one to two weeks as they toughen and become accustomed to the surface of the braces. Just like when you get new shoes and your feet get blisters, your gums have to get used to the way braces rub the cheeks. You can put wax on the braces to lessen this. We'll show you how!

Loosening of Teeth:

This is to be expected throughout treatment. Don't worry, it's normal. Teeth must loosen first so they can be moved. The teeth will again become rigidly fixed in their new--corrected--positions.