LIFE WITH BRACES
Eating
with braces
What can you eat? Let's talk about what you shouldn't eat! If you've been wanting
to drop a few pounds, the first week wearing braces is just your chance! For
the first day or so, stick to soft foods. Avoid tough meats, hard breads, and
raw vegetables. Before long, you'll be able to bite a cucumber again. But you'll
need to protect your orthodontic appliances when you eat for as long as you're
wearing braces.
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, pens, pencils or fingernails) can damage the braces. Damaged braces will cause treatment to take longer.
General Soreness
When you get your
braces on, you may feel general soreness in your mouth and teeth may be tender
to biting pressures for three to five days. This can be relieved by rinsing
your mouth with a warm salt water mouthwash. Dissolve one teaspoonful of salt
in 8 ounces of warm water, and rinse your mouth vigorously. If the tenderness
is severe, take aspirin or whatever you normally take for headache or similar
pain. 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. We'll show you how!
Loosening of Teeth
This is to be expected throughout treatment. Don't worry!
It's normal. Teeth must loosen first so they can be moved. The teeth will again
become rigidly fixed in their new--corrected--positions.