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 can also break or damage wires or brackets.
Dr. Harfield & Dr. French’s
No-No Food List
- The crust of pizza.
(It’s the best part but the place where bent wires start!) - Hard rolls & pretzels & bagels & bones
(knock braces off so leave them alone!) - Nuts
(are always very good too, but we have to say, “no nuts for you!”) - Beef Jerky & Slim Jims
(are fun to eat, but for wrecking your braces they’re hard to beat!) - Suckers
(are always a sweet delight but will damage your braces if ever you bite!) - Caramel candy, jube-jubes, and chewy sweets
(are a gooey mess & fun to eat, but they pull off the brackets and feed the bacteria,
so my good friend, don’t let it go near ya) - Pens & Pencils
(are food for thought but we all know the havoc they’ve wrought!) - Ice
(is nice in the heat we all know, but they destroy your braces. A thousand times..NO!!)
Be careful of:
- Ribs and chicken wings
(still on the bone. Cut the meat away & leave the bone alone!) - Fruits and raw veggies
(are really good too! Cut small, bite-sized pieces to avoid a re-glue!) - Chips
(in small mouthfuls & in moderation will prevent a bracket operation!) - Doritos & Tacos
(and all the rest, will form a hard ball making your braces a mess!) - Popcorn
(& movies are fun for all, but the pain that it causes is not fun at all!) - Gum
(if it’s not sugarless, can cause a real mess!)Eating bad foods will loosen the braces,
with delays in both treatment and improvement of faces.
So avoid the bad foods, whether girl or boy,
for your new healthy smile will give us all joy.
The braces won’t last forever you know,
and when it’s all over, we’ll say “YES-YES” not “NO-NO”!
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.