Foods Your Child Should Avoid When Wearing Braces

Braces can be a big lifestyle change for your child, especially when it comes to their diet. Lots of popular snacks and foods should be avoided. Brackets and wires can snap because of hard, sticky or crunchy foods. When your child gets braces, here are some of the kinds of foods that can be damaging and that your child should not eat when wearing braces.

Hard Foods

Chips, pretzels and ice are all foods that can damage brackets and wires. Pieces of these foods can break brackets, or get jammed under wires or between teeth, where they can be painful and difficult to remove. Trail mix, hard rolls and even certain brands of cereal can also pose problems and should be avoided.

Sticky Foods & Candies

Your child doesn’t need to give up all sweets when they get braces, but certain foods and candies will get stuck in braces and cause problems. Caramel and bubblegum are classic no-go foods, but other snacks like taffy, gummies and dried fruits should also be avoided. In fact, it can be a good idea to cut down on candy and other sugary foods in general when your child is wearing braces. Having braces makes maintaining good oral health even more important, and sugary foods can cause tooth decay. Minimizing the number of sugary foods your child eats can make it easier to avoid this problem.

Crunchy Foods

Apples, carrots and other raw vegetables don’t need to be completely banned from your child’s diet, but they should be cut into bite-size pieces and carefully chewed. Hard foods and crunchy snacks can break brackets and wires or get jammed under them or in between teeth.

Foods They Have to Bite Into

Corn on the cob, pizza, sub sandwiches and large pieces of meat should be cut up before your child can enjoy them. In the cases of especially tough pieces of meat or crispy pizza crusts, for example, it may be better to forgo these foods altogether. However, there is more flexibility with this category than there are with some of the other foods on this list.

Although it can be challenging to adjust to these dietary changes, before long both you and your child will be experts on what they can and can’t eat. If you have questions about whether your child should or shouldn’t eat certain food with braces, contact our office for advice.