For many years, braces have been an extremely popular cosmetic dentistry procedure for improving the look and feel of the nation’s smiles.
And, if you’re thinking of investing in an orthodontic treatment or you are have just started your treatment, there are lots of things you should avoid in order to ensure that your treatment is as successful as possible.
1. Avoid Eating Chewy Foods with Braces
When you first start orthodontic treatment, you may experience some difficulty when it comes to talking, smiling, and eating. Of course, all of these problems are only temporary until your mouth adapts to new sensations and movements.
In the meantime, you should avoid chewy foods as these can become lodged and tangled in between your brackets and wires, and can cause your appliance to bend out of shape and loosen in parts.
2. Skip Hard Foods with Braces
At the same time, hard foods such as pizza crusts, hard sweets and apples should also be avoided as these can cause your appliance to loosen and bend out of shape. This can then lead to a delay in the effectiveness and completion of your orthodontic treatment.
3. Sugary Foods can Cause Tooth Decay
If you have a sweet tooth you might find this one a bit more difficult but did you know that sugary foods can lead to a build up of plaque? With this in mind, it’s vital that you adopt good oral hygiene habits when it comes to taking care of your teeth during the treatment process. Brushing your teeth frequently and effectively will help to eliminate the build up of plaque on your teeth, and most importantly, prevent you from developing tooth decay!
4. Fizzy Drinks can Cause Erosion
Although many of us love enjoying our favourite ice-cold fizzy drink from time to time, when you are wearing your brace, they should definitely be avoided. This is because many fizzy drinks (the diet variety too!) are notorious for causing acid erosion, which can then cause the enamel around your brace to wear away.
When this happens it can cause irreparable damage to your teeth, leading to increased sensitivity and even unsightly white marks!
5. Foods that Stain Braces
During treatment it’s vital that you make wise food choices, especially if you stand any chance of maintaining a happy, healthy and dazzling white smile whilst receiving your treatment.
This is because there are a whole host of foods, which can cause discolouration and staining. But don’t worry, if you are wearing clear ceramic braces, the brackets shouldn’t stain but it’s still worthwhile steering on the side of caution as the clear elastic ties can stain! If you are wearing Invisalign aligners, this shouldn’t be a problem as you can simply take them out.
Foods that you should avoid include berries, curries and pasta sauces as well as many more!
6. Don’t Chew Nails and Pens
There are a number of bad habits that cause damage your brace, and therefore affect the treatment process. With this in mind, you should always think twice about chewing on the end of your pen or pencil, and biting your nails, as this can cause you appliance to bend out of shape, break and even loosen in parts.