LIFE WITH BRACES

Making the decision to improve your smile with teeth straightening braces has the potential to change your life.

Once your braces have been fitted, it’s important to do everything you can to look after them to ensure your treatment goes smoothly and so that you get the best possible results.

Eating the right foods and avoiding things that can cause problems is a vital part of looking after fixed braces.

Fixed braces use brackets attached to the teeth that are connected with wires.

Removable braces such as Invisalign plastic aligners, meanwhile, are always taken out before eating or drinking anything other than water.

Removable braces patients can then eat any foods but they must always brush their teeth before putting the aligners back in.

What can you eat with braces and what should you avoid?

The brackets and wires on a fixed brace can be damaged or loosened by excessively hard, chewy or sticky foods.

With sugary foods and drinks, in particular, there is also an increased risk of things becoming trapped and plaque building up, which can cause tooth decay.

During your teeth-straightening treatment you might have to make some small adjustments to your diet but there are plenty of foods you can eat with braces.

HOW LONG AFTER GETTING BRACES CAN YOU EAT SOLID FOOD

In the first few days after your braces are fitted, or following adjustments made by the orthodontist, your teeth will probably feel tender.

Luckily there are lots of soft foods for braces!

During these stages it’s best to stick entirely to non-chewy meals such as soups, casseroles, pasta, mashed potatoes, omelettes, smoothies, pancakes or porridge.

What can't you eat with braces?

Here are some foods you should avoid altogether with fixed braces:

• Whole fruit and whole vegetables.Chop into small pieces.
• Lollipops, caramel, toffees and other sticky sweets.
• Chewing gum.
• Boney meatslike chicken wings and spare ribs. Remove the meat from the bone and cut into smaller pieces.
• Popcorn.Kernels can easily get stuck.
• Crusty breads, pizza crustsandchewy breadsuch as bagels.
• Hard foodssuch as nuts, tortilla chips, hard biscuits and ice cubes.
• Sugary, fizzy and acidic drinksincluding natural fruit juices. As well as causing tooth decay, these drinks could stain your braces.
• Chewy foodssuch as dried fruits or beef jerky.
• Corn on the cob.Always remove the corn from the cob.