Eating Right

A healthy diet means a healthy body, healthy teeth, and a better result for your orthodontics. Please do not eat hard foods: nuts, ice, crisp taco shells, whole apples and carrots (cut them into pieces first), hard French bread crust and rolls, spareribs, corn on the cob (cut the corn off the cob before eating), and popcorn. These foods risk breaking brackets and wires. Also beware of nail biting and pen or pencil chewing habits, since these can damage your braces. Do not eat sticky foods: taffy, caramels, bubble gum, sticky candy of any sort. No gum of any kind is allowed. This is the number one cause of wires shifting and poking your cheeks. Use common sense about most foods.

Foods to avoid while wearing braces:

• GUM OF ANY KIND

• Nacho and Tortilla Chips

• Gummy Bears

• Chewing Cracked Ice

• Chewing Hard Bread Crust

• Hard Pretzels

• Hard Pizza Crust

• Apples (unless peeled and cut into bite sized pieces)

• Carrots (unless cut in strips)

• Popcorn

• Frozen Candy Bars

• Nuts

• Hard Candies

• Sticky Candies/Suckers

• Meat on the Bone

• Beef Jerky

• Celery

• Granola Bars

• Corn on the Cob (cut it off the cob)

• Tootsie Roll

• Crunchy Chips