Diet
Orthodontics and Food
Yes, you may eat during orthodontic treatment! It may surprise you that most foods can still be eaten after braces are placed on your teeth.
The wrong types of food or eating the right kinds of food improperly can cause food to get caught in your braces, stick to braces, loosen braces, or bend wires.
Refrain from eating hard, chewy, or sticky foods. The following is a list of the most common foods to avoid:
Ice
- Corn on the cob
- Whole apples (slice them)
- Biting meat off ribs (cut meat off the bone)
- Cereals with nuts/granola
- Biting chicken off the bone (cut chicken off the bone)
- Any type of nut (other than thinly sliced)
- Popcorn (because unpopped kernels and husks stick in gums)
- Candy (hard chocolate, chewy gummy bears, and gummy anything)
- Gum (can distort wires, which can move teeth in the wrong direction)
- Any whole har
d fruit (apples, pears, peaches, etc.)
- Large pieces of any meat (cut into small slices)
- Pizza, especially hard ends or crust
- Most cookies
- Chewing on pencils
- Taffy
- "Nutty" peanut butter
We don't want your orthodontic treatment to be a series of "don'ts", but in general, don't put anything (food or object) in your mouth that is HARD, CHEWY, or STICKY, no matter how small!