5 Things to Avoid While Wearing Braces

The longer you have braces on, the more you’ll get to know what you can and can’t do while wearing them. However, until you get used to orthodontic treatment, your orthodontist will provide you with a list of things you should avoid doing until your braces come off. These precautions are to prevent you from harming your teeth, breaking off brackets, or bending and shifting wires.

 Below are 7 things you should avoid while undergoing orthodontic treatment:

1. DO NOT forget to floss –Forgetting to floss can cause problems during and after your orthodontic treatment. Food particles will start to build up between the teeth, causing cavities or tooth decay. If you’re having trouble flossing with your braces on, please let us know so we can help! 
2. DO NOT drink sugary or carbonated beverages – Braces make it more important than ever to avoid sugar. The acids in sugar and carbonation can dissolve the glue that adheres your brackets to your teeth, increasing the likelihood that they’ll come off. 
3. DO NOT use your teeth as tools – Using your teeth as tools is always a bad idea, but that goes double while wearing braces. Teeth should only be used for eating and using them to do anything else can break or weaken the teeth or damage your braces, or both! 
4. DO NOT chew gum or eat sticky foods – Keep in mind that anything that sticks to your teeth will stick to your braces. If you chew gum or eat other sticky food, it will pull on the wires, bands, and brackets, putting stress on the hardware, which could cause them to break.
5. DO NOT grind or clench your teeth – Lastly, many people suffer from bruxism, which is the grinding or clenching of the teeth. Oftentimes you may not even know you have it until it begins to damage your teeth or wake up a sleeping partner. If you suffer from bruxism, please let us know so we can help you learn how to manage the symptoms. Otherwise your braces may become damaged. 

To speak with a Parker orthodontist, please contact Little Rockies Pediatric Dentistry here in Parker, Colorado.