patient_information

Foods to Avoid

First Days of Braces

After starting orthodontic treatment, you may experience tenderness for a few days. We recommend a soft food diet, for example:

Scrambled Eggs Spaghetti
Oatmeal Baked Potatoes
Pancakes Mac & Cheese
Cream of Wheat Applesauce
Cottage Cheese Canned Fruit
Yogurt Jell-O/Pudding
Soups Shakes/Malts
P-butter/Jelly Mashed Potatoes

Foods to Avoid

A well balanced diet that minimizes sweets and sugared beverages is important. Hard, sticky, and/or crunchy foods should not be eaten to avoid damaging your braces.

Hard Foods like:

Popcorn Ice
Nuts Hard Pizza crust
Peanut brittle Granola Bars
Hard Tacos Pretzels
Corn chips Hard candy
Tortilla Chips Hard Crusted Rolls

Hard foods may damage your braces by bending your wires and/or loosening your brackets/bands.

Sticky Foods like:

Taffy Sticky Candy
Caramel Gummy bears
Beef Jerky Tootsie Rolls/Pops
Fruit Roll-Ups ABSOLUTELY No Gum!
Licorice  

Sticky foods damage your braces by bending wires and pulling brackets/bands loose.

Cut These Foods Into Small Bite-Sized Pieces

Apples Pizza Crust
Pears Bagels
Nectarines Pretzels
Peaches Carrots

Chicken or ribs: DO NOT BITE INTO THE MEAT . . . take it off the bone.
Corn-on-the-cob: DO NOT BITE INTO THE CORN COB . . . cut it off the cob.

DO NOT BITE: T-shirts, blankets, objects such as: pens, pencils, crayons, fingernails, and water bottles.

NO SODA OR CARBONATED BEVERAGES!
The carbonation will dissolve the cement attaching the braces to your teeth and cause PERMANENT WHITE SPOTS on your teeth.