What Can I Eat If My Teeth Are Sore From Braces
Soft Fruits Grapefruits, nectarines, Kiwi, and Tangerines are some of the soft foods for braces. Vegetables soften when cooked with steam.
Dairy Products: Yogurt and cheese are excellent alternatives to hard meat. Tender chicken, turkey, meatloaf, lunch meat, and seafood are all soft meats. Pudding, applesauce, smoothies, and ice cream are the deserts.
Foods To Avoid With Braces
During your first few days with braces, stick to only eating soft foods. It only takes one bad bite to damage your braces and prolong your orthodontic treatment. For the remainder of your orthodontic treatment plan, follow this list of foods to avoid with braces as much as possible:
- Crunchy foods like partially popped popcorn kernels, ice, pretzels, hard cookies, and chips.
- Sticky foods like caramels, chocolate, sugary gum, and candy.
- Chewy foods like bagels and licorice.
- Hard foods like pizza crust, whole carrots, candy, nuts and taco shells.
- Also avoid chewing on pens, pencils, fingernails and especially ice. These can all damage your braces and prolong treatment.
Additionally, avoid biting into hard foods with your front teeth. Consider cutting up these foods, or better yet, avoid them completely:
- French/Italian bread and pizza crust
- Meat on the bone
In addition to avoiding hard foods, its also important to avoid chewing on hard items such as pens, pencils and fingernails. These things can damage your braces, and when a bracket comes loose and is no longer attached to your tooth, that tooth is no longer moving in the right direction. It could actually be moving in the wrong direction, back to where it started. Loose and broken braces can cause treatment to last longer, so contact your orthodontist as soon as you notice something is off.
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How Does Food Cause Broken Braces
When you chew food, your muscles contract and close your bite down. This happens repeatedly to grind and chew our food into small enough bits to be swallowed. The harder a food morsel is, the stronger the contraction needed to crush or chew it.
If a hard or crunchy food item gets wedged in-between your braces, the strong biting contraction may break the bracket or band off of your tooth.
Some foods should be avoided because they can get stuck in-between your teeth.This is normally not a problem without braces. Without braces you can easily floss or pick out a piece of food that will irritate your gums.
With braces on, it can be more difficult to remove pesky particles. They can remain stuck in between your teeth and under your gums causing inflammation.
This can lead to bleeding gums, swollen gums and even infections of the gum. Painful and swollen gums are not fun, so avoid eating these foods with braces to avoid these problems.
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Why Are Some Foods Limited
Before diving into the list of foods which should be avoided and the list of the best foods to eat during your time with braces, Dr. Michael Skrobola and Dr. Jonathan Schlosser believes it is important for patients to know why these foods should be avoided. The three main groups that should be avoided with braces are hard, sticky, and chewy foods. These should be avoided because they are can break your braces which can cause pain to the patient. These foods can also get easily stuck in your braces and be difficult and sometimes painful to get out.
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Can I Eat : : : : : : : : With Braces
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Pizza
Eat thin-crust pizza. Thick crust can be difficult to chew while wearing dental braces. If you have no control over what pizza is ordered, eat the pizza, but leave the thick crust behind.
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French Fries
As long as they arent burnt to a blackened crisp, french fries should be safe for your traditional metal braces.
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Chips
Most chips are fine, but use your best judgement. Ripple potato chips tend to be harder to chew.
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Bread
Stay away from croutons, french bread, hard rolls, and other breads that are difficult to chew. Soft breads are fine.
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Steak and Chicken
Since meat can be stringy, its easy to get little pieces stuck between teeth. We recommend cutting meat into bite-sized pieces. If possible, choose meats that are lean and tender.
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Salad
Salads are just fine with dental braces. Just skip the croutons!
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Chewing Gum
In general, it is best to avoid most types of gum while you have braces. However, if you absolutely have to have some, enjoy it in moderation and only select thin, sugarless gum. Sugary gum tends to be stickier and can get caught in your wires or brackets.
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Chocolate or Other Candies
Chocolate and certain other candy is safe to eat with braces. Yet, you may want to limit how much chocolate and sticky sweets you eat during orthodontic treatment. Cavities and gum disease are caused by plaque, an invisible film of bacteria that loves sugar. When sugar is left behind, plaque uses it to produce cavity-causing acid.
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Best Foods To Eat With Braces & Cooking Tips
Give up gummy bears? Put away the popcorn? No more nuts?
If youre thinking about getting braces or have already made the decision to improve your smile , you likely have concerns about what foods you can and cant eat.
Good news: there are tons of foods that are braces-friendly that you can still eat and enjoy throughout your orthodontic treatment. And yes, there are some foods that you will need to avoid as well. But isnt having a healthy, confident smile worth temporarily giving up a few of your favorites? Most of our patients would say that it absolutely is.
We hope youll take this opportunity to learn what you can eat and drink with braces, some cooking tips, and what you can look forward to eating again once your treatment is complete .
Can You Eat Chips & Popcorn With Braces
You need to avoid hard chips and popcorn with braces. Both of these foods are hard and crunchy and put pressure on the braces brackets and wire when you eat them. In addition, the small bits of hard chips and the popcorn kernels will get stuck under the wire, and are very difficult to clean out. This can cause bacterial growth on your teeth, as well as staining and discoloration of the dental enamel. Some chips are okay to eat with braces: softer chips like Pringles, baked chips, and cheese puffs are all approved to eat with braces on. Just make sure to eat one at a time and bite them with your back teeth. Hard chips to avoid include Doritos, Fritos, Takis, tortilla chips, crunchy Cheetos, and other similarly crunchy chips.
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What Is Considered Appropriate To Wear To A Summer Wedding
Im going to a summer wedding this August, and Im struggling trying to pick out a dress to wear due to my height . Everything looks either way to short or extremely long. I was wondering is it appropriate to wear a longer dress to a summer wedding? I did not want to match the wedding party so Im avoiding light blue, white, black, and red. I found this from Windsor but it is pretty long, do you think this would this work? https://www.windsorstore.com/product/Mackenzie-Mauve-Cascading-Chiffon-Dress-050024981?c=744
Loose Wires And Bands
The wires and bands on your braces may come loose. If this happens, please contact us as soon as possible so that we can check and repair your appliance. If any piece of your appliance comes off, be sure to save it and bring it to the office with you.
You can temporarily fix the loose wire by using the back of a spoon or the eraser end of a pencil to carefully and gently push the wire back into place. If the loose wire is causing irritation to your lips or cheeks, put wax or a wet cotton ball over the broken wire to relieve the pain.
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Eating Mac And Cheese With Braces Tip #2
Rinse your mouth out with water after eating, then brush and floss properly 30 to 60 minutes later Mac and cheese is fairly sweet and the sauce is very sticky. This sweet mess sticks to your teeth and braces and can lead to yellowing and cavities.
With braces, the buildup is harder to clean so you should take extra care not to get stains that stand out more after having braces removed. As long as you brush regularly youll be OK. We like using a water flosser to remove debris shortly after eating, then an electric toothbrush and interdental brushes for full flossing.
How To Eat Healthy With Braces
Most kids will need to wear braces for a year or two, so that means theyll need to stick with a braces-friendly diet for a while. While wearing braces, its important to keep sugar to a minimum and try to eat a diet thats nutritious, varied, and typically softer, especially after braces are tightened.
Here are our top 10 healthy and tasty foods to eat with braces.
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Foods To Eat With Braces
If you have clear braces over your teeth to straighten them, you must prepare yourself to endure some challenges with orthodontic appliances. Getting the braces is a painless procedure but getting adjusted to them leaves your mouth sensitive initially. In addition, you may experience pain if you try to have foods with a complex texture.
Orthodontic treatment also requires you to chew differently, and your orthodontist will likely recommend eating soft foods during the initial days. After getting braces, you can have the following foods to ensure you dont damage them and need to rush to your orthodontist for an emergency appointment. You can have mashed potatoes, yogurt, scrambled eggs, soups, oatmeal, soft cheeses, and cooked or soft vegetables. Any easy-to-chew foods are permitted when you initially get braces over your teeth.
However, if your orthodontic treatment is proceeding with clear aligners, you can forget any restrictions on restricting the foods you can have. Most clear aligners are removable for eating your favorite foods, having any drinks you want, brushing and flossing your teeth, and returning the aligners over your teeth within a couple of hours.
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Why Cant You Eat Certain Foods During Braces
While your braces are on your teeth, its important to follow the diet restrictions provided by your orthodontist.
Your brackets are designed to be sturdy, but even metal brackets can break, come loose, or fall off entirely. Eating hard foods that put pressure on your brackets can cause bracket or wire breakage. In fact, its one of the most common reasons patients break or damage their braces.
Furthermore, certain hard or sticky foods can easily get stuck in between the brackets of your braces and under the wires, and it can be difficult to remove this food to thoroughly clean your teeth and braces. Over time, food stuck in your braces can cause bacteria and plaque to accumulate, which leads to dental decay and discoloration or staining of your teeth.
For these reasons, following diet restrictions is an important thing you can do to keep your orthodontic care progressing smoothly.
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Tips For Easy Chewing
Foods that dont require much chewing make mealtime easier. Weve done the thinking for you and yes There are more options than just Jell-O! These tips should be handy when planning your menu on tightening day:
Two To Three Days Following Placement
The first two to three days after your braces are placed may be a bit uncomfortable. As your teeth begin to shift, you will feel the pressure of the arch wire and brackets. We will give you wax so that you can apply it to your braces and relieve irritation on the lips and inner cheeks. Additionally, pain medications such as Advil or Tylenol can ease the discomfort. Remember to follow the dosage guidelines on the product. Salt-water rinses can also bring you relief.
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What To Dip In Cheese Fondue
One reason cheese fondue is such a great dinner choice is because you can really dip anything into it! Trying to get your kids to eat more veggies? When they can use a fun little fork, theyll gladly dip those veggies in cheese sauce! I sliced up four colors of bell peppers for dipping. I also included broccoli florets. No one in my family cares for cauliflower, so I didnt include that, but it would be a great choice for this recipe.
This time, I was shooting for a fun option for a meatless dinner, so I just included vegetables, fruits, and gluten-free breads and gluten-free pretzels for dipping. Next time I make this, Im going to include some cooked meat options as well. Ideas include crispy bacon, thick chunks of ham, gluten-free meatballs, and quartered hamburger patties. Any other ideas? Let me know!
Its also fun for the kids to help get everything sliced for this. My boys like using the pizza cutter to cut the tortilla wedges. I used certified gluten-free Udis Gluten Free Flour Tortillas. I brushed them with oil, sprinkled with coarse sea salt, and baked until crispy. When sliced these are like a soft tortilla chip. My son with braces especially loved these, as he cant eat crunchy chips right now!
The kids can also help with the baguette slices. I sliced Udis Gluten Free French Baguettes diagonally into 1/2 thick slices. Then I had my kids brush some with garlic butter and some with olive oil that we sprinkled some salt and herbs on before baking.
Eating Pasta With Braces Tip #2
After eating the pasta, rinse your mouth with water to clear debris. You should then try to brush and floss 30 to 60 minutes later not immediately after. A water flosser is an excellent tool for removing food from braces. This goes for all food eaten while you have braces. Bits getting trapped next to your teeth can end up leading to plaque and cavities.
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Whats Your Favorite Post
Sensitivity after a tightening should go away after a day or two, but choosing the right foods can help you feel comfortable sooner. There are lots of great ideas and recipes for tender teeth. Do you have your own favorite food to eat after tightening?
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Top image by Flickr user José Carlos Cortizo Pérez used under Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 4.0 license. Image cropped and modified from original.
Top 10 Things You Should Know Before Choosing Your Surprise Orthodontist*The reviews listed are from actual patients of Surprise Orthodontics. Individual results may vary. Reviews are not claimed to represent results for everyone.
Eating Mac And Cheese With Braces Tip #1
Watch out for using very sticky cheese or very hard-cooked pasta. In our list of food to avoid eating with braces, we point out that sticky and chewy food can end up bending braces wire or possibility leading to a bracket break.
Honestly, because most macaroni cheese is really soft you should be fine. Just take smaller mouthfuls and dont try to eat really fast. This goes for most food with braces and youll soon learn that smaller is better.
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Can I Eat Mac And Cheese With Braces
We believe that this is going to be a big relief for many of you because, believe it or not, you actually can eat mac and cheese with braces! Mac and cheese is an effortless meal, making it entirely safe for your braces. However, remember that since baked mac and cheese is crispy, this variation of it should be rather avoided while wearing braces.
The Day Your Braces Are Placed
You should feel little to no pain when your braces are initially placed onto your teeth. However, after the first few hours, you may experience some discomfort. You will have to get used to wearing braces and learn how to chew with them. For the first few days after brace placement, we recommend that you avoid eating hard, crunchy, or sticky foods. Instead, eat mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, yogurt, soups, etc. softer foods that will not add to your discomfort.
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How Long Will My Dental Braces Hurt
When you first get braces on, your teeth will hurt or you may be in some amount of discomfort for several weeks. After about a month, it will get better. In a few months, you may even forget that you are wearing them. Within 3 months you will probably be able to eat almost anything you like. In six months, you might even be able to bite into hard cookies, chips, and crusty bread again. .
