Eating with Braces

Avoiding certain foods helps prevent broken brackets, loose appliances, and longer treatment times.

In order to prevent breaking your orthodontic appliances, we recommend avoiding the following foods while wearing braces.

• Sticky/Chewie foods:
  • Gum (including sugarless)
  • Starburst
  • Taffy
  • Skittles
  • Airheads
  • Twizzlers
  • Caramel
• Hard/Crunchy foods:
  • Hard candies
  • Cough drops
  • Raw carrots (need to be cut very small)
  • Apples (need to be cut)
  • Pizza crust (cut off bite-sized pieces and chew carefully)
  • Bagles (cut off bite-sized pieces and chew carefully)
  • Corn on the cob (cut the corn off of the cob)
  • Ice
  • Nuts
  • Hard chips (Doritos, Sun Chips, etc. need to be chewed carefully)
  • Popcorn
• Drinking soda should be minimized or avoided to prevent staining of the teeth.

Excessive breaking of braces and other appliances will lengthen treatment times and should be avoided. If a brace or appliance feels loose or has fallen off, please call our office so that may be repaired in a timely manner and keep treatment on track.