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Getting braces is a step towards getting straight teeth. It is a little pain today that brings a beautiful tomorrow. People, who get braces often go through the extensive process of fitting, resetting, and maintenance with the hope that their teeth will soon become perfectly straight. Braces are often the most effective and economical way for children and young adults to straighten out crooked and unevenly spaced teeth.
However, getting braces can disrupt your routine. We have heard people drop a couple of pounds the first month they get braces. It can indeed be confusing and annoying to eat with your braces on for the first couple of weeks. There is no way you can take the traditional braces off while eating or drinking, so you have to habituate yourself with it eventually. It is every patient’s concern to maintain their oral hygiene and prevent all sorts of damage to their bands, brackets, and archwires. Not cleaning the braces properly after every meal can result in tooth decay.
Patients often find it easier to develop a list of foods they can and cannot eat to maintain proper dental health. Let us help you with a list of tasty and healthy food choices to make eating a lot more comfortable with braces. (See also: How To Know If You Need Braces For Your Teeth?)
1. Fruits
Fresh fruits should be a part of every child’s regular diet. Ideally, children should have around two cups of fruits per day. Although fruits are compulsory for good health and avoiding vitamin deficiencies, your choice of fruits should be easy on the braces. Apples, unripe pears, and guavas are hard fruits. According to currydentistry.com, all hard fruits can be harmful to your teeth. They are difficult to bite into without dislodging the brackets.
You can choose to cut the hard fruits into small bite-sized pieces or simply put them in the blender to whip up a super-nutritious smoothie for your child. Ripe bananas, grapefruits, raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries are good choices for teeth with braces. Smoothies are great nutrition boosters for days immediately after a wire change.
2. Vegetables
Vegetables are necessary for all since they provide us with essential vitamins and trace minerals. They are the leading source of all types of Vitamin B complexes and Vitamin C. However, just like fruits, people with braces require special care while preparing vegetables for their meals.
You should avoid raw hard vegetables like cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, beetroot, and turnips. They are hard enough to pop a bracket right off a tooth. If you want to include raw veggies in your diet, it is advisable to turn them into smoothies or spreads. It is smart to cook them thoroughly to soften them. Go easy on your teeth for a couple of days immediately after you get new braces.
3. Meat
It is a vital part of any non-vegetarian diet. Meat supplies copious amounts of protein and iron. Since it is fibrous, meat tends to stick to the braces. Stringy meat can be quite annoying to manage with braces on. When wearing braces, try to avoid tough cuts. Staying away from red meat also helps since beef, and pork fibers tend to be chewier than chicken, turkey and duck meat.
Go with tender cuts that you can cut to small bite-sized pieces. Remove the bones before eating. Removing lodged bones from teeth and between the brackets can be painful. Include lean choices like fish and tofu that do not threaten your oral health.
4. Grains
Rice, whole crusted bread and unground whole grains in cereals can pose a challenge for those wearing braces. Although they are rich sources of dietary fiber, iron, and other nutrients, you need to consider other grain products. Soft grains are easy for all brace wearers since they are easy to chew.
Avoid small seeds and grains during your time with braces. You can soften the bread by warming it or applying spreads. If possible, avoid crusty bread and hard grains that can lodge between your brackets.
5. Dairy
For the lactose intolerant bunch, making this choice is not hard at all. Dairy is a vital source of calcium, phosphorous and protein. However, if you have lactose allergy or intolerance, avoid milk and milk products at all costs. You can try soy and almond based dairy products to make up for any shortage of calcium and Vitamin D.
Others can opt for soft cheese, low-fat milk, low-fat yogurt, and butter. While eating cheese, ensure that you cut them into bite-sized pieces. Always remember to clean your braces after eating soft cheese.
6. Nuts
You may have already noticed how difficult it is to eat nuts with crooked teeth. Small hard bits can lodge themselves quite stubbornly between the teeth gaps. With braces, eating nuts becomes even more challenging than with crooked teeth. To keep your braces secure, avoid hard nuts at all costs.
Instead of putting your braces and brackets through the trial, you should try making spreads out of peanuts and almonds. If you are bored of peanut butter and almond spreads, try to chop them or grind them in the food processor and use them as toppings to jazz up your fruit smoothies.
7. Candies and treats
We know they are not the essential food groups, but candies and desserts are crucial parts of everyone’s lives. Hard candy can pose a challenge to the braces, and so can soft-chewy candies. Chocolate covered nuts are not particularly kind to braces and brackets either. In our experience, it is in the best interest of the patient to avoid candies during their orthodontic treatment. If you are experiencing a particularly strong craving, speak with your orthodontist about proper cleaning procedures before indulging.
Eating with your braces on can be tricky, but you cannot miss out on the essential food groups due to the difficulty. Pick soft, easy-to-chew food that does not stick to your teeth for preserving your braces. Visit your dentist regularly after you get your braces in for cleaning and maintenance. It is especially easy to get tooth decay when you have braces and brackets on.
About The Author:
Sujain Thomas is an experienced blogger who has written articles for several renowned blogs and websites about various uses of social media to engineer more business traffic on business websites.
