Eating with Braces

This is a common issue with patients who have just started their orthodontic treatment. What am I allowed to eat... better yet, what am I NOT allowed to eat? In the initial days after your braces are placed, we recommend sticking to a soft food diet and avoiding any hard foods, such as tough meats and raw vegetables. Once you have grown accustomed to your appliances, you’ll be able to chew without discomfort. However, during your orthodontic treatment, you’ll need to protect your braces from damage.

Foods to Avoid

For most situations, common sense will tell you what to avoid. Hard foods, sticky foods and foods high in sugar must be avoided. Hard foods can break or damage wires and brackets. Sticky foods can get caught between brackets and wires. Minimize sugary foods; they cause tooth decay and related problems. Nail biting, pencil and pen chewing and chewing on foreign objects should be avoided.

Examples of Sticky Foods to Avoid:

• Gum (sugar-free or regular)
• Licorice
• Sugar Daddies
• Toffee
• Tootsie Rolls
• Caramels
• Starburst

Examples of 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
• Uncooked carrots (unless cut)

Minimize Sugary Foods like:

• Cake
• Ice Cream
• Cookies
• Pie
• Candy

Only Once a Day:

• Soda
• Sweetened tea
• Gatorade
• Kool-Aid
• Drinks with sugar

It’s important to regularly check your braces for bent or loose wires and brackets. In the event of a loose/broken wire or bracket, call our office immediately to arrange an appointment for repair.

General Soreness and Discomfort

During the first week after your braces are in place and routine adjustments are complete, you will likely feel some pain, soreness or discomfort. You may take Tylenol (or any other non-aspirin pain reliever you use when you have a headache or similar pain) while you adjust to your new braces. A warm wash cloth or heating pad may reduce the soreness in your jaws. You may also find warm salt water rinses helpful in relieving the discomfort. Dissolve one teaspoonful of salt into eight ounces of water and rinse your mouth vigorously. If your lips, cheeks and tongue become irritated while you adjust to the braces, you may place wax on the brackets to minimize the irritation.

Loosening of Your Teeth

There is no cause for alarm if your teeth appear loose. This is expected throughout your orthodontic treatment. Teeth must loosen first to move to their correctly aligned positions before they become fixed again.

Caring for Your Appliances

Patient compliance is one of the most important aspects of orthodontic treatment. Patients must cooperate with their orthodontist to ensure their treatment is a success. Rubber bands, headgear and other appliances must be worn as prescribed by Dr. Craft in order for treatment to be completed on time. Patients must also take good care of their appliances, as damage to them can lengthen treatment time.

Brushing and Flossing

The best way to ensure a clean and healthy smile is brushing and flossing. Food particles can accumulate on teeth and in braces, and over time, turn into plaque. The bacteria that results from this accumulation can lead to gum disease, tooth decay and even loss of teeth. To avoid these problems while you are in orthodontic treatment, take special care of your braces, teeth and gums to ensure you will have the best possible result.

Retainer Instructions

• Be sure to wear your retainer on a full-time basis or as prescribed by Dr. Craft.
• We prefer you eat with your retainer in your mouth, but if you take your retainers out while eating, always put them in your case where they can’t be lost or thrown away.
• Be sure to give your retainers a thorough cleaning once a day with a toothbrush and toothpaste. Do not use hot water on your retainer. From time to time, you may use orthodontic appliance cleaners or denture cleaners, such as Efferdent, but this does not take the place of brushing.
• When you first receive your retainer, you may have difficulty speaking clearly. With practice, this will quickly go away.
• Always handle your retainer with care. If they are not in your mouth, they should always be in their case! Call us immediately if you lose or break your retainer.
• Always have your retainer with you when you come to our office for an appointment. If your retainer needs adjusting, call us to make an appointment. Don’t try to adjust it yourself!

Fixed Expander Instructions

• Turn the screws in your fixed expander as we have instructed. When you insert the key into the hole, turn toward the arrow.
• If you cannot keep your regularly scheduled appointment, call our office for instruction.

Athletics

We strongly recommended wearing a protective mouthguard when playing any contact sport during orthodontic treatment. If any damage to your mouth, teeth or appliances occurs while playing sports, call us immediately.

Emergency Care

Call our office as soon as possible if you break or loosen any of your appliances. Please do not come directly to the office – by calling us, you will allow us to create a time to see you. Even if you have a regular appointment scheduled, call us immediately to notify us if you need an appliance repaired.

Loose brackets or bands

Call our office immediately for advice if a bracket or wire is loosened. The bracket may need to be re-fitted as soon as possible. On occasion, a wire may become loose. Using the back of a spoon or a pencil eraser, gently push the protruding wire under the archwire to get it out of the way. This may temporarily relieve the discomfort, but call our office immediately to schedule a repair appointment.

Wire irritations

Sometimes discomfort caused by a wire on your braces can be resolved by moving the wire away from the irritated area with a cotton swab or eraser. If the wire will not move, try covering the end of it with a small piece of cotton or a small amount of wax. If the wire is painful, you can cut it with nail clippers or scissors that have been washed and sterilized in alcohol. If you cannot resolve the wire irritation, call our office for an appointment.

Lost separators

Some patients lose a separator during their treatment. Do not worry about losing a separator, but call our office to see if it needs to be replaced.