Getting braces soon - some questions

[james93uk]

1) I would strongly encourage a plant-based diet for braces, and in general. Fruit, veg, beans, lentils, breads, pasta, seeds, nuts are all great choices. You will benefit from blending some of your food into smoothies to begin with after each time your braces get tightened and switch to more solid foods once they adjust after a few days. I also eat peanut butter and cashew butter (instead of eating the nuts whole) after my braces are tightened as a way to still get nuts into my diet, being a great source of protein and good fats.

Tofu with rice is a great post-brace-tightening meal option as it is extremely soft requiring little chewing and you are getting all your main nutrients. I also recommend plant-based milks like coconut milk, soy milk, almond milk, hemp milk etc as contrary to popular belief cow's milk actually leeches calcium from the bones. You are better off getting you calcium intake largely from green leafy vegetables such as kale which are abundant in it.

Apples are OK as long as you cut them up before eating. I highly recommend buying some tooth picks so you can get the bits of food out of your braces each time you eat as this will cause tooth decay.

2) It's OK to have soda occasionally as a treat but I would avoid drinking it every day. Also, orange juice can be bad because of the acidity.

3) The soreness will vary on a number of things such as the particular treatment you are having done, what method and manufacturer of braces they are using, the subject themselves individual sensitivity to pain. It also varies slightly each time you get them tightened - the first time you have them fitted will probably be the worst. The best thing you can do is to try and engage in something in order to take your mind off it and try not to touch the braces or anything as this will aggravate it.

It will begin to hurt more when you eat and for a time after because of the chewing, so stick too soft foods that require little chewing like I said. The pain should pass after a few days. Use wax if you find the braces rubbing too much inside your mouth too.

4) Try rinsing a saline solution (salt mixed with water) in your mouth a few times a day.

[loa]

[quote="sirwired"][quote="djspeece"]I do eat popcorn, but carefully to avoid crunching on an unpopped hull.[/quote]

The prohibition on popcorn isn't because of unpopped kernels; the most they could do would be to bend a wire or pop a bracket. The problem with popcorn is the hull on popped kernels (the tough brown bits that get stuck in your teeth.) These are hard, thin, and sharp, and do not soften while sitting there soaked in saliva, and it's possible for one of those to get wedged between a bracket and your gum tissue and you may or may not notice it until it's too late and causes permanent damage.

Is it inevitable? No. But it is enough of a risk that popcorn should be absolutely avoided.[/quote]

Ok def wont be eating popcorn when I get my braces! lol

[asylumgreen]

I totally avoid popcorn, chips and nuts - I feel like popcorn and chips would be too difficult to eat carefully and I don't care enough about nuts to deal with potentially breaking my braces. Anything else I either have eaten or would eat as long as I was careful.

Soda should be fine, just brush your teeth soon afterward.

The soreness wasn't that bad for me. Take a few mild painkillers for a couple days and you'll be fine. I took ibuprofen.

I just had some teeth extracted last week, and several months before that, my wisdom teeth. It's true - it hasn't been as bad. I find it easier to eat normally, because as long as I cut up my food and direct it toward the back of my mouth, I can avoid the extraction sites pretty well. My tips are just to avoid straws/crunchy foods/etc. It's only a couple weeks of your time, not worth getting some kind of painful complication. Stock up on fun drinks and soft foods.