We’ve all heard about watching what you eat with braces. Can you eat this with braces? Is it OK to eat that with braces?
We get these questions often. You can eat a lot more with braces than you think!
Fergus Orthodontics wants you to have the best experience possible. We will do all we can to make your orthodontic treatment as easy and comfortable as possible — and even fun! — but we need you to do your part, too. That includes avoiding certain foods that could damage your braces.
List of Foods to Eat With Braces
Let’s start with the good news — the foods you can enjoy with braces. It’s a long list of delicious braces-friendly goodies.
Here are some of the delicious foods you can eat with braces.
- Meat cut into bites and off the bone
- French fries
- Mashed potatoes
- Baked potatoes
- Grilled cheese
- Macaroni and cheese
- Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
- Pudding
- Jell-O
- Pasta
- Soft Tacos
- Corn off the cob
- Yogurt
- Soup
- Rice
- Fruit cut into bites or slices
- Cheese
- Cooked vegetables
- Pickles
- Pimento cheese
- Chocolate bars with no nuts
- 3 Musketeers
- Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
- Peppermint Patties
- Ice cream
- Milkshakes
These are just some of the yummy foods and candy you can eat with braces.
Foods to Eat Cautiously With Braces
You can eat these foods with braces. Just modify them a bit and eat them carefully.
- BBQ meats: Take the meat off the bone before eating it because the bone could loosen or break off a bracket.
- Pizza: Soft “thick” crust should be OK, but avoid the chewy hand-tossed and harder thin crust. Ideally, leave the crust on the plate.
- Whole fruits: Fruits with a front bite, like apples, pears, and peaches, can damage your brackets or wires. Cut them into slices, and you can enjoy them all day long.
- Multigrain bread: The grains can damage and get stuck in your braces if not ground well and baked into the bread. If this isn’t the case, avoid multigrain bread.
- Corn on the cob: Corn on the cob could knock off a bracket, so cut the corn off the cob.
- Frozen desserts: Soft treats like ice cream sandwiches are fine, but avoid biting a hard popsicle or waffle cone.
What Can’t You Eat With Braces
This list of food items includes the ones you should avoid with braces. If your favorites are on here, just remember, it’s only temporary! You can go back to enjoying these foods once your treatment is done.
These foods could damage your braces and delay your treatment, so please avoid eating them.
- Hard foods: Hard candies, nuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, raw grains
- Foods that need a front bite: Whole apples, raw carrots, corn on the cob, whole pears, whole peaches
- Chewy candy and foods: Bagels, licorice, taffy, pizza crust, gummy bears, beef or other jerky, hard-crusted bread, jelly candies like Hot Tamales
- Crunchy foods: Popcorn, tortilla chips, ice, hard cookies, hard crackers, Doritos, hard breadsticks, hard taco shells
- Sticky foods: Gum, caramel candies, granola bars, protein bars, cereal bars, caramel apples, popcorn balls
Caring for Braces After Eating
Whatever you eat, keeping your teeth and braces clean afterward is essential. Braces can trap food against your teeth, increasing your chances of tooth decay. We can’t stress enough how important it is to brush and floss your teeth during braces treatment. Remove plaque and food particles from your teeth to keep them healthy throughout your treatment.
Brushing With Braces
Brush your teeth at least twice a day for at least two minutes at a time. Make sure you get around every bracket, including the back ones. We recommend using an electric toothbrush because the movement can often get around the brackets better.
Use a fluoride toothpaste to protect your enamel and decrease your chances of tooth decay. Wait at least half an hour after brushing before eating or drinking. This gives the fluoride time to absorb properly into the enamel.
Rinse your teeth after meals if you can’t brush your teeth. It will help remove food particles and keep them from getting stuck in your braces.
Flossing With Braces
Flossing with braces seems to be quite a challenge, doesn’t it? How do you get around all those wires and brackets? It’s much easier with the right tools.
A floss threader will get your dental floss around your braces. A floss threader looks like a giant, plastic sewing needle with a huge eye. You thread the dental floss through the eye, then thread the floss threader under or over your archwire and between your teeth. Then, you can floss normally.
Some patients have asked about water flossers such as Waterpik. Can you floss with water flossers? Yes and no.
They’re great for removing particles and plaque around the brackets and between the teeth. However, they lack the scrubbing power of dental floss.
If you use a water flosser, you should use it as a supplement to dental floss, not a substitution.
Using a Proxabrush
A proxabrush can also help get around brackets and wires. It’s a small, round brush that can slide between brackets and wires. The proxabrush can dislodge food particles that you may not be able to reach with your toothbrush or dental floss.
Braces Treatment in Jonesboro, AR
You may not be able to enjoy popcorn for a few months, but it’s well worth it to end up with a beautiful smile that lasts a lifetime! Braces treatment will not only change your smile, but it will also change your self-confidence and your oral health. You’ll be proud to show off your well-earned smile!
Fergus Orthodontics is ready to show you how braces can transform you. Are you ready for braces? You can schedule a virtual consult with us to learn more about what braces in Jonesboro, AR, can do for you.
