Eating With Braces: Tips From Our San Clemente Dental Office

At our San Clemente dental office, we use braces to transform smiles.  Whether you are considering braces for yourself or for your twelve-year-old, they are an excellent solution for creating smiles that are truly spectacular. Having straight teeth and an aligned jaw can truly transform how you look and while this does require a level of commitment, the results are truly worth it.

It can take some time to get used to an orthodontics treatment.  Patients that wear an oral appliance, traditional braces, aligners, or even a retainer, have to make some adjustments to daily life.  Once you get used to wearing them, it becomes second nature.  At first, however, your changes will need to at the conscious level, especially when it comes to eating.

Many foods that used to be eaten without an issue may now be dangerous for your teeth in the sense that they could prolong your treatment plan.  Nuts, for example, are known to cause brackets to pop off or move out of place so they must be avoided.  With that in mind, we are regularly asked what people can and should eat.  Here is a list of our suggestions:

• Drink a smoothie.  One excellent way to get the vitamins and nutrients that you need is to make a smoothie.  Simply grab your favorite fruits and veggies and mix them in with yogurt for a healthy and delicious snack or meal.  You can add in peanut butter so that the sticky snack is easier to eat, and you will receive extra protein as a result. 
• Small bites.  We have found that you can eat most foods with braces if you take smaller bites.  For example, if you bite into a full hamburger, you will get meat and bun stuck in between your brackets which can be embarrassing.  If you cut your burger into pieces, you can eat it with fewer problems and brush your teeth afterward.  This is true for many dishes that require you to bite into them.  Simply pull out your fork and knife, cut into pieces and eat that way instead. 
• Snack on cheese.  An easy snack to eat while wearing braces is cheese because it is full of calcium and protein and won’t get stuck in between your brackets.  Since you can purchase single servings at the grocery store, you can throw a couple in your bag and have them when you feel hungry. 
• Soft fruits.  Try eating fruits that are easy to chew like bananas, watermelon, and berries.  Avoid crunchy apples since the pieces will become stuck in between your brackets and require immediate teeth brushing. 
• Use a steamer.  If there is something that you want to eat, like carrots, that are hard and crunchy, use a steamer to soften them.  You can purchase bags of veggies at the grocery store that are ready for the microwave, making this a fast and easy snack or addition to any meal.

In our San Clemente dental office, we recommend that you stay away from certain foods altogether.  Avoid chewing on nuts, hard chips, sticky food, and food that is high in sugar or acid. This will prevent any unintentional damage to your braces that could prolong your recovery time.