Food Choices During Treatment

Foods To Avoid While Wearing Braces

A healthy diet means a healthy body, healthy teeth, and better orthodontic treatment results! You can usually use common sense about food that can affect your orthodontic appliances and the health of your teeth. Hard, crunchy foods can damage brackets or wires, which can actually move your teeth in the wrong direction and cause treatment delays, while sugary foods can eat away at your teeth and cause cavities. Also, beware of nail biting and pen or pencil chewing habits since these can damage your braces.

You must think carefully about what you eat. Teeth move best when all the body systems are healthy. A balanced diet is important. Choose foods from all four food groups: vegetables and fruits, meats, grains, and dairy products.

Avoid these foods while wearing braces:

  • Ice
  • Hard taco shells
  • Hard bread crust
  • Corn nuts
  • Hard pretzels
  • Hard pizza Crust
  • Apples (unless peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces)
  • Carrots (unless cut into strips)
  • Popcorn
  • Frozen candy bars
  • Hard nuts
  • Hard or sticky candies (gummies, taffy, caramels, Tootsie Rolls, Bit-O-Honey
, etc)
  • Meat on the bone
  • Beef jerky
  • Celery
  • Granola bars
  • Corn on the cob (cut the corn off the cob before eating)
  • Bubble gum
 (a small piece of sugarless gum occasionally is acceptable)
  • Crunchy chips or tortilla chips

Avoid the obvious dessert foods, but do not forget the hidden sugars such as:

  • Jelly
  • Soda pop
  • Juice
  • Syrup
  • Sugared cereals
  • Honey
  • Breakfast rolls
  • Carob
  • Catsup
  • Raisins
  • Dried fruits