Life with Braces

Eating with braces

How can you eat with all this gadgetry in your mouth? Very carefully! What can you eat? In the beginning, try lots of softer foods like macaroni-and-cheese, rice, pasta, steamed vegetables, broiled fish and chicken, soups and stews; anything that is easy to put in your mouth without a lot of biting and hard chewing. Avoid foods that are very hot or very cold. The “glues” used on your appliances and braces take a few days to really harden well and temperature can affect that.

Let's talk about what you shouldn't eat! All foods must be cut or broken into bite-size pieces and chewed in the back of your mouth. Avoid tough meats (like steak, fried chicken, hamburgers), crusty and hard breads, and vegetables like carrots and celery or corn on the cob. Even good-for-you fruits like apples have to be cut up before the pieces go in your mouth. And of course, all those hard, sticky, gooey candies have to be put aside for the time you are in braces. Peanut butter sticks to braces like you wouldn’t believe!! You have to be protective of your orthodontic appliances for as long as you are in treatment. Before you know it, you'll be able to bite a cucumber again and chomp down on an apple.

Avoid:
* Chewy foods: bagels, hard rolls, licorice
* Crunchy foods: popcorn, ice, chips, tic-tacs
* 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 and result in costly repairs.

General Soreness

When you get your braces on, you may feel general soreness in your mouth and your 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! You might experience this every time you have an adjustment, but usually within a day you’re feeling like your regular self again.

Loosening of Teeth

If you sense your teeth feeling loose, don’t panic. They’re not falling out (unless it’s a baby tooth.) 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 newly corrected positions.

CARE OF APPLIANCES

To successfully complete the treatment plan, you - the patient- must work together with us. The teeth and jaws can only move toward their corrected positions if you wear the appliances exactly as instructed by us and his staff.

The first and most important instruction is to brush your teeth often.

It's more important than ever to brush, floss and rinse regularly when you have braces, Food loves to attach itself to all the brackets and wires and if left there, it is guaranteed that you will develop plaque, swollen gums, possible cavities, and really bad breath. We encourage you to come to the Oral Hygiene class and practice with the staff on correctly brushing your teeth. We want your teeth and gums to be healthy after you complete your orthodontic treatment.

Follow-up your brushing with flossing and rinsing every single day. That will keep 95% of the bad bugs out of your mouth. Not keeping your teeth clean will result in more frequent visits to your regular dentist for professional cleaning. It may also delay your orthodontic treatment and may cause gum disease.

Wearing Specialized Appliances

You may be required to wear certain other appliances besides braces. Headgear, expanders, removable biteplates and tongue thrust tamers all come with specific instructions for you to follow. How well you keep those instructions will determine how long you have to wear them and that really is up to you.

Initially, you may find it difficult to speak or you may slurp a lot. The slurping usually stops in a day or so when your mouth stops making the extra saliva. As for talking, the best way to get over the hump is just to keep talking, reading aloud, or even singing in the shower.

Don’t think you are the only one walking around with weird gadgets in your mouth. More than likely you will have classmates who are also in orthodontic treatment and who have to deal with the same things you have to deal with. Hey, your teacher might be in braces too!

Athletics, Instruments and Mouth Protection

If you play sports, it's important that you consult us for special precautions. We’ll give you a protective mouthguard to wear every time you play sports. In case of any accident involving the face, check your mouth and the appliances immediately. If teeth are loosened or the appliances damaged, phone at once for an appointment. In the meantime, treat your discomfort as you would treat any general soreness.

Playing a musical instrument poses special challenges for orthodontic patients. Rest assured you can still play the trumpet, the clarinet, the French horn and the saxophone. What you have to do is practice carefully at first and keep your wax pack handy. We also have special slipcovers for braces that take the pressure off when you are playing. All you have to do is let us know you play an instrument and we’ll help all we can.

Something doesn’t feel right

Don't be alarmed if a wire or band comes loose. This happens occasionally. If the wire sticks out and is irritating, use a blunt instrument (back of spoon or the eraser end of a pencil) and carefully, gently push the irritating wire under the archwire. Simply get it out of the way. If irritation to the lips or mouth continues, place wax or wet cotton on the wire to reduce the annoyance. If a band slips off, try to push it back on if at all possible. 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.

Emergency Care

We have a 24 hour live answering service. If you have severe pain, swelling, bleeding, a wire that is puncturing the skin or have been injured in some way, call the office for an emergency appointment. It's important to know the names of the parts of your appliances. It will help, when you phone the office, to be able to identify what part is broken or out of place.