Eating with Braces

It takes a full twenty-four hours for the orthodontic adhesive to harden completely, so eat soft foods and avoid tough meats, hard breads and raw vegetables your first day in braces. You can quickly add more foods to your diet when the mild soreness in your teeth subsides after the first three or four days. By avoiding extremely hard and sticky foods throughout your time in braces, you can minimize appliance breakage and decrease your time in treatment. While it’s impossible to list all hard and sticky things that orthodontic patients should avoid, below are some general guidelines.

Foods to Avoid

• Chewy foods: tough bagels, hard rolls, licorice
• Crunchy foods: popcorn kernels, ice, chips
• Sticky foods: caramels, gum, taffy, starburst, air heads
• Hard foods: nuts, candy, jolly ranchers
• Foods you have to bite into: corn on the cob needs to be cut off the cob, while apples and carrots need to be cut into bite size pieces
• Chewing on hard things, such as pens, pencils or fingernails, can damage the braces.

Remember, braces damaged or knocked off the teeth prolongs treatment time.

General Soreness

When you get your braces on, you may feel general soreness in your mouth and teeth may be tender to biting pressures for three to five days. This can be relieved by rinsing your mouth with a warm salt water mouthwash. Dissolve one teaspoonful of salt in 8 ounces of warm water and rinse your mouth vigorously. If the tenderness is severe, take advil or whatever you normally take for headache or similar pain. The lips, cheeks, and tongue may also become irritated for one to two weeks as they toughen and become accustomed to the surface of the braces. You can put wax on the braces to lessen this. We'll show you how!

Loosening of Teeth

This is to be expected throughout treatment. Don't worry! It's normal. Teeth must loosen first so they can be moved. The teeth will again become rigidly fixed in their new – corrected – positions.

Loose Wire or Band

Don't be alarmed if a wire or band comes loose. This happens occasionally. If wire protrudes and is irritating, use a blunt instrument (back of spoon or the eraser end of a pencil) and carefully, gently push the irritating wire under the archwire. Simply get it out of the way. If irritation to the lips or mouth continues, place wax or wet cotton on the wire to reduce the annoyance. Call our office as soon as possible for an appointment to check and repair the appliances. If any piece comes off, save it and bring it with you to the office.

Care of Appliances

To successfully complete the treatment plan, the patient must work together with the orthodontist. The teeth and jaws can only move toward their corrected positions if the patient consistently wears the rubber bands, headgear, or other appliances as prescribed. Damaged appliances lengthen the treatment time.

Brushing

It's more important than ever to brush and floss regularly when you have braces so the teeth and gums are healthy after orthodontic treatment. Patients who do not keep their teeth clean may require more frequent visits to the dentist for a professional cleaning. Adults who have a history of gum disease should also see a periodontist during orthodontic treatment.

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