Life with Braces
Eating with Braces
What can you eat? When you have just started wearing braces, stick to very soft foods. Avoid tough meats, hard breads, and raw vegetables. Before long, you will be able to eat normal food, but you will want to avoid anything that can damage your braces. Keep in mind that you will need to protect your orthodontic appliances when you eat, for as long as you are wearing braces.
Foods to Avoid
- Chewy foods: bagels, hard rolls, licorice
- Crunchy foods: popcorn, ice, chips
- Sticky foods: caramels, gum
- Hard foods: nuts, candy
- Foods you have to bite into: corn on the cob, apples, carrots
- Chewing on hard things (for example, ice, pens, pencils or fingernails) can damage the braces. Damaged braces will cause orthodontic treatment to take longer.
General Soreness
When you have just started wearing braces, you may feel general soreness in your mouth, and teeth may be tender to biting pressures for one to five days. This soreness can feel like touching a bruise and can be relieved by chewing on a bite wafer. Bite wafers come in several flavors. Just ask us for one. Additionally, soreness can be soothed by rinsing your mouth with a warm salt-water rinse. Dissolve one teaspoonful of salt in 8 ounces of warm water, and rinse your mouth vigorously. Placing an over-the-counter topical anesthetic on the affected area may also help. This soothing aide can be found in your local pharmacy. If the tenderness is interfering with your daily routine, take the recommended dose of over-the-counter Ibuprofen, as long as your physician has not instructed you otherwise. Ibuprofen is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug. The anti-inflammatory property should give relief in addition to the “anti-discomfort” property. The lips, cheeks, and tongue may also become irritated for one to two weeks, as they toughen and become accustomed to the surface of the braces. You can put wax on the braces to lessen this irritation. We will show you how!
Loosening of Teeth
Loosening or mild mobility of permanent teeth is to be expected throughout treatment. Don't worry! It is normal. Teeth must loosen first so they can be moved. The teeth will again become rigidly fixed in their new, corrected positions.
Loose Wire, Bracket, or Band
Don't be alarmed if an archwire, ligature tie, bracket, or band breaks or comes loose. Occasional breakage can happen. If the pigtail ("twisted end") of a wire ligature tie protrudes and is irritating, use a blunt instrument (the eraser end of a pencil, the back of a spoon, or a set of tweezers), disinfect it with rubbing alcohol, and carefully push the irritating pigtail under the archwire to move it out of the way. If irritation to the lips or mouth continues, place wax or wet cotton on the pigtail to reduce the annoyance. Call our office as soon as possible for an appointment to check and repair the appliances. If any piece comes off, save it, and bring it with you to the office.
For any home remedy you may use, please disinfect with rubbing alcohol any instrument or tool you put into the mouth.
Care of Appliances
To successfully complete the orthodontic treatment plan, a patient must work together with Dr. Held and the WHO Team. The teeth and jaws can only move toward their corrected positions if the patient consistently wears the rubber bands or other appliances as prescribed. Damaged appliances lengthen the orthodontic treatment time.
Keeping Your Mouth Clean
It is more important than ever to focus on keeping your mouth clean when you have orthodontic appliances, so that the teeth and gums are healthy during and after orthodontic treatment. Because Dr. Held believes so strongly in helping you to succeed at cleaning your mouth, she has instructed the WHO Team to give you both a valuable prescription Rota-dent® electric toothbrush and a hygiene kit free of charge, to give you all of the tools you need to succeed at excellent oral hygiene. For more details about oral hygiene, including instructions on how to achieve and maintain excellent oral health, please see the All About Hygiene section of this website.
