Caring for your braces

Eating with braces

Some foods have the potential to damage or break your braces - which will prolong your treatment time and could cause oral trauma. In order to ensure your treatment goes as smoothly as possible, please avoid:

• Hard and sticky foods, like toffee and hard boiled sweets
• Crunchy fruit and vegetables, like apples, carrots and corn cobs (Try cutting them up or grating them instead of biting them)
• Popcorn
• Pizza crusts (You can still enjoy the toppings)
• Chewing gum
• Biting your nails or chewing on the ends of pens and pencils

• Porridge
• Pasta
• Fruit and vegetables (either softly cooked or cut into bite-sized pieces)
• Yoghurt

This is by no means an exhaustive list. If you have some favourite foods that you are unsure about, please ask our friendly staff and they will be happy to advise you on your diet.

5 top tips for cleaning your teeth

• Brush your teeth after every meal and snack
• Floss regularly - we can show you how to do this with your braces
• Use disclosing tablets to see which spots you are missing when you brush
• Use a toothpaste with a good fluoride content
• Rinse your mouth with mouthwash