Eating With Braces – Tips for Teens
Braces-friendly Eating Tips for Your Teen to Try
When your dentist recommends that you see an orthodontist to get braces, there’s no question that your teeth require extra care in order to achieve the desired result, which is improved teeth alignment. That means that the braces will be placed in your mouth for around two years so that they can start working on the appearance and health of your teeth.
As such, you will want to do everything you can to ensure that the braces will work properly throughout the treatment period. For the most part, that would translate to eating only the right foods that would cause no damage to all the wires and brackets, or would not create any reason for you to have a hard time with keeping both your teeth and your braces clean and in great condition.
Orthodontists share braces-friendly eating tips with their patients to help them understand what they can and can’t consume if they want their treatment to progress within the predicted timeframe. Generally, he will advise patients to steer clear of hard, chewy and sticky foods.
If you have a kid who will be getting braces soon, provided below is a simple guide to help your child easily identify which foods he can and cannot eat while e has braces:
Stay away from:
- Ice cubes
- Caramel
- Popcorn
- Nuts
- Chewing gum
- Pizza crusts, hard pretzels or croutons
- Licorice
- Gummy bears
- Jelly beans
- Chocolate chips
- Tootsie Rolls
- Skittles
- Starburst
- M&Ms
- Smarties Jujubes
Eat these with care (slice or break these up first and then chew them carefully using your back teeth):
- Ribs
- Corn on the cob
- Crunchy granola bars
- Nacho chips
- Bagels
- Crusty bread
- Fruits with pits
- Hard fruits
- Raw vegetables
- Chicken wings
The good news is that there are still plenty of fun and tasty things that your child can eat that won’t harm his braces. There’s ice cream (choose flavors without nuts or chips), potato chips, French fries, soft pretzels, yogurt, pudding, Jell-o, sandwiches, soup, eggs, cheese, milkshakes, peanut butter, pasta, and steamed vegetables.
Tell your child that, as a rule of thumb, he must opt for foods that are soft and easily chewed, or that have an almost liquid consistency so they can slip easily through the mouth and throat. If some foods take a bit longer to chew, it’s best to cut them up in bite-size pieces first. And if he must eat something that is high in sugar, he should brush his teeth soon after and try not to eat that food to often in the future.
If you would like to discuss more tips for ensuring the best possible care for your child’s braces contact your Pleasant Hill pediatric dentist at Surfside Kids Dental.
See you in the line-up!
