Foods To Avoid With Braces

Foods To Avoid With Braces
Posted on 07/01/2018

Foods to Avoid After Getting Braces

Getting braces for the first time is exciting. It marks the first step on a journey towards a beautiful, healthy new smile – and at Myers Orthodontics, we're proud to help patients throughout the Knoxville area take that step every day. However, starting with braces also means you'll need to make a few lifestyle changes, and diet is one of the biggest. If you've recently started treatment with braces or are thinking about getting braces for yourself, it’s vital to know what foods to avoid during treatment.


Foods You Can't Eat with Braces

New to wearing braces? We're excited for you – but from now on, you'll need to make a few changes to your diet. While you're wearing braces, you'll need to avoid any foods that are hard, crunchy, sticky, gooey, or loaded with sugar. Hard and crunchy foods can break brackets, sticky foods can get stuck under

your  archwires, and sugary foods can cause tooth decay that your teeth are extra susceptible to during orthodontic treatment. Here are a few examples of the kinds of foods you'll need to avoid with braces:


Hard Foods

  • Popcorn
  • Corn on the cob
  • Raw apples and carrots (ok if cut into small pieces)
  • Hard candies
  • Pizza crust
  • Bagels
  • Chips
  • Hard tortilla shells

 

Sticky Foods

  • Toffee
  • Caramel
  • Taffy
  • Licorice
  • Chewing gum

 

Sugary Foods

  • Candy
  • Pie
  • Cake
  • Cupcakes
  • Soda
  • Sweet tea
  • Sugary drinks

 

This list is by no means exhaustive – instead, it's simply a guide to show you the types of foods you should look out for. Ultimately, you'll need to use common sense to determine what does and does not pose a threat to braces. Keep in mind that avoiding these foods is critical to ensuring that your treatment goes as planned, and with the school year starting up again, it's important to be particularly mindful of this. Pizza day may be the best day of the week at your school cafeteria, but hard pizza crust is something you'll need to forego while wearing braces!


Contact Your Knoxville Orthodontist

We hope this list makes it easier to determine the foods you should avoid while wearing braces, but if you have more questions, we're always here to answer them. Give us a call at (865) 687-6560 if you have more questions on eating with braces, and don't hesitate to schedule an appointment online if you want to come in for a checkup or consultation. We look forward to hearing from you, and we wish you luck in maintaining a healthy, braces-friendly diet!