If I am to be granted a wish, I’ll wish for a bountiful dinner where I can eat all the food in the world in just one plate – Who doesn’t love to eat? (I know there are a very few exceptions) Well, eating everything while wearing braces is a different story though.

There are some limitations on food for people wearing braces. The reason is the purpose itself. We wear braces to correct our teeth, make it straight and look beautiful. This will only be possible if we will follow our orthodontists’ instruction and one of it is to avoid foods that can break your wires and loosen your bands. I prepared a guide below to help you prepare your menu, enjoy!

A no – no to:

• Hard, crunchy and sticky foods – Examples are hard meat, bubble gum, apples and junk foods. These foods will not only give you additional tons of fats but will give you undesirable pain within the mouth area as well. These foods will give pressure as you bite them to pieces, once the gums and teeth are forced it may cause misalignments (which we are trying to correct in the first place), mild bleeding and worst your brackets might just come off. Especially if you are on your first week wearing braces, better go with soft foods to lessen the pain and discomfort while eating.
• Sweet foods – Tooth decay is a common dilemma for a sweet tooth but for those who wears braces, sweet foods such as candies and gummy bears eats up calcium in your teeth, it will feed bacteria in your mouth and will just create plaques. Avoid chewing gums as well, specifically bubble gum. Say goodbye to Ice cream, chocolates and other foods high in sugar in the meantime as it gives permanent stains and bruises to your teeth and braces. These are the biggest NO – NO if you’re wearing invisalign and ceramic braces.
• Sodas – Though we don’t actually chew or bite this liquid drinks, its sugar and chemical content are enough to damage not just out braces but also our gums and teeth. The chemicals leave stains that a single brushing can’t do. Aside from this sodas are not also good for the health, limit it to 1 can per day to save for recreational activities – movie marathon, anyone?
• Bad habit foods – Biting your finger nails, chewing pens and pencils, Kick that bad habit of yours! It’s nasty at the same time you can get and spread out bacteria all over! Cost of teeth braces is not something we can laugh about and so is your health. It’s priceless. Pens and pencils hold almost 70% of the bacteria you gather each day using your hands. Just imagine the germs and bacteria crawling up to your mouth and live on your braces?? While they decided to live on your braces, they decided to make your finger nails their school bus.
• Ice – Yes, when comes to braces ice is not an innocent friend. When used not-so-carefully, eating ice can cause serious injuries on the gums and enamel. Some uses it to numb pain but it will not help all the time and will just make the pain worse after few minutes.

For any questions and free consultation, you may call us at the number above and we will arrange a free consultation for you.