Life with Braces

Eating with Braces

What can you eat? Let's talk about what you shouldn't eat! For the first day or so, stick to soft foods following an adjustment. Avoid tough meats, hard breads, and raw vegetables. Before long, you'll be able to bite normally again, but you'll need to protect your orthodontic appliances when you eat for as long as you are wearing braces.

Avoid the following:

Chewy Foods: Bagels, hard rolls, licorice
Crunchy Foods: Popcorn, ice, chips
Sticky Foods: Caramels, gum
Hard Foods: Nuts, candy
Foods You Have to Bite Into: Corn on the cob, apples, carrots

Chewing on hard things such as pens, pencils or fingernails can damage the braces. Damaged braces will cause treatment to take longer.

General Soreness

When you get your braces on, you may feel general soreness in your mouth and teeth may be tender to biting pressures for the first week. This can be relieved by rinsing your mouth with a warm salt water mouthwash. Dissolve one teaspoonful of salt in 8 ounces of warm water and rinse your mouth vigorously. If the tenderness is severe, take Tylenol or whatever you normally take for a headache or similar pain. The lips, cheeks and tongue may also become irritated for one to two weeks as they toughen and become accustomed to the surface of the braces. You can put wax on the braces to lessen this. We'll show you how!

Loosening of the Teeth

This is to be expected throughout treatment. Don't worry! It's normal. Teeth must loosen first so they can be moved. The teeth will again become rigidly fixed in the their new - corrected - positions.

Care of Appliances

To successfully complete the treatment plan, the patient must work together with the orthodontist. The teeth and jaws can only move toward their corrected positions if the patient consistently wears the rubber bands or other appliances as prescribed. Damaged appliances lengthen the treatment time.

Brushing

It is more important than ever to brush and floss regularly when you have braces. Patients who do not keep their teeth clean may require more frequent visits to the dentist for a professional cleaning. If plaque accumulates around the braces, tooth enamel may weaken, causing unaesthetic white spot lesions. Adults who have a history of gum disease should see their dentist or periodontist more often.

Athletics

A protective mouth guard is advised for playing contact sports. We will supply a mouth guard to protect your teeth and braces if you wish. In case of an accident involving the face, check your mouth and appliances immediately. If teeth are loosened or the appliances damaged, phone our office at once for an appointment.

Loose Wire or Band

Don't be alarmed if a wire or band comes loose. This happens occasionally. If a wire protrudes and is irritating, use a blunt instrument (back of a sppon or eraser end of pencil) can carefully, gently push the irritating wire under the archwire. Simply get it out of the way. If irritation to the lips or mouth continues, place wax on the wire to reduce the annoyance. Call our office as soon as possible for an appointment to check and repair the appliances.

Regular Dental Care

During orthodontic treatment, it is vital that all patients continue to visit their general dentist regularly for examination and cleaning.