Metal Mouth Message Board

How come people who are in braces cannot chew gum? I haven't tried it yet because I've been told that i can't chew gum. I never asked why but now I'm wondering. Before braces, I used to chew sugarless gum so I'm wondering if the warning is for those who chew gum that has sugar? Does gum get tangled in the brackets? I'm sorry if this question has been asked before.

I was told that chewing gum can get stuck to braces and damage it. However, I see other people in braces chewing gum. I used to chew gum a lot, but quit since I got braced. I have absolutely no desire to chew gum with braces on my teeth (and chew at all for that matter, but cannot avoid chewing food ).

i have braces and i chew gum all of the time ..... sometimes it can stuck in your teeth but you can easily remove it with the toothbrush .... but when you have spacers in your mouth (those elastics that they put between your teeth at the beginning of the treatment ) chewing gum can remove the spacers so you can not chew gum .....

I chew sugarless gum all the time. It feels really good when my teeth are sore (kind of like a teething ring or bite wafer). Occasionally it will get stuck on the hook that is on my back molar band, but it comes right off.

My ortho recently told me to chew sugarless gum, or suck on sugarless candy to alleviate my dry mouth problems.
I don't chew sugarless gum though because it's a total pain in the *ss when you have elastics too....

My ortho said "dental" gums like Orbit and Trident were fine. He even recommended it to help out with bracing and adjustment pain. But other gums (even sugar-free) may get tangled up in brackets easily. I think that if the gum goes through a really soft phase when you chew it, it's no good, but if it just goes from a stick or chicklet directly into a firm ball, you should be okay. Very soft bubblegum (even if it were sugar-free) would be the exact opposite of a gum you could chew.

Thank you for your replies. I actually just recently started craving gum because lately I haven't had time to go brush after lunch during work and I started realizing how much I miss chewing gum. I'll ask my ortho on my next adjustment.