Foods to Avoid

While you are wearing braces, please avoid eating hard foods, sticky foods and foods high in sugar. Hard foods can break or damage the wires and brackets, and sticky foods can get caught between the wires and brackets. Minimize the amount of sugary foods you eat; the sugar can cause tooth decay and other related problems.
Colorful gummy candies and hard candies that patients should avoid for optimal dental health.

Examples of Sticky Foods to Avoid:

Gum (sugar-free or regular)

Licorice

Sugar Daddies

Toffee

Tootsie Rolls

Caramels

Starburst

Mixed nuts and seeds including almonds, cashews, and pistachios that patients should avoid.

Examples of Hard Foods to Avoid:

Ice

Nuts

Hard taco shells

French bread crust/rolls

Corn on the cob

Apples and carrots (unless cut into small pieces)

Bagels

Chips

Jolly Ranchers

Pizza crust

Uncooked carrots (unless cut)

Decadent chocolate layer cake slice on plate showing importance of limiting sugary desserts for dental health.

Minimize Sugary Foods like:

Cake

Ice Cream

Cookies

Pie

Candy

Woman holding a dark cola drink with ice, illustrating sugary beverage risks to teeth.

Only Once a Day:

Soda

Sweetened tea

Gatorade

Kool-Aid

Drinks with sugar

We encourage patients to quit bad habits, such as fingernail biting, pencil and pen chewing and chewing on foreign objects. All of these activities can break or damage your braces.

It's important to regularly check your braces for bent or loose wires and brackets. If you have a loose/broken wire or bracket, please call our office immediately to arrange a repair appointment.