Braces-Friendly Snacks
You have new braces and you have a list of foods to avoid. Although you are feeling good about what your smile will look like, you aren’t so sure if you can last for 18 months with no snacks. Relax — the world isn’t totally bleak. While the list of foods to avoid may seem restrictive, there are also many braces-friendly snacks you can indulge in.
Ugh! Is There Anything Good I Can Eat?
Yes, there are a lot of great (sweet) treats that you can safely eat with your new braces. You’ll still need to be extra diligent about brushing and flossing though. Just to recap — you will want to avoid anything hard, crunchy, sticky, and overly chewy (like bagels and crusty rolls). The reason we ask you to avoid certain foods is two-fold.
First, we want you to avoid damaging your braces. Hard foods can break the wires or loosen the brackets. Sticky foods get caught on the wires and brackets and are difficult to clean. The second reason is that braces work by loosening your teeth slightly to adjust their positioning. Chewing harder foods may cause pain and discomfort. Sticky or chewy foods may add to your discomfort by moving your teeth while chewing.
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But we still haven’t mentioned anything good that you can eat, have we?
Braces-Friendly Snacks
We are breaking these down into categories and we’re starting with the healthy stuff. Sorry.
Fruits, veggies, and smoothies
- Citrus fruits, bananas, grapes, peaches, and blueberries
- Baked apples or pears
- Raw apples and pears — but cut them into small, 1/2-inch pieces
- Soft raw veggies, such as peppers, cucumbers
- Most salad ingredients (avoid bacon bits and hard crunchy veggies)
- Applesauce, fruit cups, and canned fruit
- Hummus
- Fruit smoothies
Dairy. donuts, crackers, cookies, and bread
- ICE CREAM! Eat all the ice cream, but please avoid the flavors with nuts and frozen chocolate chunks
- Cottage cheese, yogurt, block cheese (cut it in smallish chunks), and string cheese
- Deviled eggs or hard-boiled eggs
- Small, soft crackers (Goldfish, oyster crackers, and similar)
- Pancakes, tortillas (yes, this includes soft tacos), and waffles
- Donuts, muffins, cakes, and soft cookies (avoid nuts, please)
- Most bread (avoid crusty rolls and bread that require you to “tug” with your teeth)
Yes, there is even some junk food on this list!
- Thin potato chips, veggie chips, or corn chips (use caution and chew carefully)
- Salsa and other chip dips
- Puffed corn snacks (think Pirate’s Booty, puffy Cheetohs, and similar)
- Tacos (in soft tortilla shells, but please avoid crunchy filling items)
Our goal wasn’t to provide an all-inclusive list. Please take our suggestions and apply common sense to avoid damaging your braces. Eating with braces doesn’t mean a diet of mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese. By thinking about how the food will affect your braces, you can broaden the scope of your snack foods over time.
If You Still Have Questions, Call Smile Style NY
Still not sure what you can eat? Please call Smile Style NY with any questions. Our staff can help guide you to snack choices that are good for your braces. Our office phone numbers are (914) 666-8997 to reach the Mount Kisco office, and (914) 245-3103 for the Yorktown Heights office. If you can wait for an answer, you can use our Contact Form.
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