Foods to Avoid with Braces

a wooden platter with lots of veggies on top of it

Orthodontic Treatment in Chapel Hill, NC

At Clifton & Mauney Orthodontics & Pediatric Dentistry, we believe everyone deserves a healthy, beautiful smile, and our mission is to help each of our patients achieve one. That’s why we’re proud to offer a wide range of dental treatments and orthodontic treatments for children and families in the Research Triangle, including orthodontic braces. If you get treatment with braces, you’ll need to make a number of adjustments to your lifestyle during treatment – and one of them is changing the food that you eat. 

Braces & Your Diet

During your treatment with braces, you’ll need to make many changes to ensure successful treatment, but diet is one of the biggest. While braces are a durable form of treatment, certain foods can pose a danger to them: hard, crunchy foods can break off brackets, gooey and sticky foods can get stuck under your archwires, and sugary foods combine with bacteria in the mouth to secrete acids that eat away at tooth enamel. 

In general, you’ll need to use your best judgment to decide what’s safe to eat with braces. But here are a few common foods you’ll need to avoid:

  • Nuts
  • Hard-crusted bread and rolls
  • Pizza crusts
  • Raw carrots and apples (ok if cut into small pieces)
  • Taffy
  • Caramel
  • Popcorn
  • Bagels
  • Corn on the cob (ok if cut off the cob)

Contact Your Chapel Hill Pediatric Dentist

This is just a small sample of the foods you’ll need to avoid with braces, so remember that common sense is always the best resource. And if you still have questions on what foods to avoid with braces, we can help! Contact us today to learn more about taking care of your braces or to schedule a consultation at our office. We can’t wait to hear from you!