Foods to Avoid

Foods To Avoid With Braces

At Douglas Knight Orthodontics, it is our priority to make your orthodontic treatment as smooth and as easy as possible. In order to do so, we provide an individualized treatment plan using specific orthodontic appliances, like Invisalign or braces. We teach our patients how to best care for their orthodontic appliances to ensure they function correctly and efficiently. One of the easiest ways to do this is by following our “foods to avoid” list while wearing braces. Some foods can be quite tough on your wires and brackets, they may even break your appliances. We want to avoid this at all cost. Our orthodontist and team have the tips and tricks to keep your teeth and braces in tip-top shape. Just follow our “foods to avoid” list and you’ll be enjoying your straight, beautiful smile in no time!

Foods To Avoid With Braces

What You Can’t Eat With Braces

While wearing braces, please avoid eating hard foods, sticky foods, and foods high in sugar. Hard foods can break or damage the wires and brackets, and sticky foods can get caught between the wires and brackets. Also, we recommend minimizing the amount of sugary foods you eat because the sugar can cause tooth decay and other dental related problems. The following is Douglas Knight Orthodontics’ “foods to avoid” list:

  • Sticky Foods to Avoid: gum, licorice, Sugar Daddies, toffee, Tootsie Rolls, caramels, and Starburst
  • Hard Foods to Avoid: ice, nuts, hard taco shells, french bread crust/rolls, corn on the cob, apples and carrots (unless cut into small pieces), bagels, chips, Jolly Ranchers, pizza crust, and uncooked carrots (unless cut)
  • Minimize Sugary Foods like: cake, ice cream, cookies, pie, and candy
  • Only Once a Day: soda, sweetened tea, Gatorade, Kool-Aid, and drinks with sugar

There are many foods that you can eat with braces. You can still enjoy many of your favorite foods like pasta, pizza (without the crust), mashed potatoes, cooked vegetables, hamburgers and so much more. The important rule to remember is that if a food seems too hard or sticky, it probably is and it’s best to avoid it.

Other Bad Habits To Avoid

Other Bad Habits To Avoid

We encourage patients to quit bad habits, such as fingernail biting, pencil and pen chewing, and chewing on foreign objects. All of these activities can break or damage your braces. It's important to regularly check your braces for bent or loose wires and brackets. If you have a loose/broken wire or bracket, please call our office immediately to arrange a repair appointment.

Call Douglas Knight Orthodontics For Your Next Appointment!

Your orthodontic treatment plan is important to us and we want to ensure everything is working well and correctly, this is why we place such an emphasis on food and braces. If you have any questions or concerns about which foods to avoid and which foods you can eat with braces, please call our Douglas Knight Orthodontics team. We will be more than happy to help you. And, if a specific food has broken or damaged a wire and/or bracket, please call our Tacoma, WA office immediately. To schedule your next orthodontic appointment, contact us today! We look forward to seeing you and your orthodontic progress!