Clear braces are slowly replacing the traditional metal braces due to their subtle appearance. The braces are fabricated to match your teeth’s color and blend in for a more aesthetic look. You’ll need to take good care of your braces and learn how to maintain oral hygiene during the treatment phase. Some foods make cleaning teeth and braces harder because they stick or stain your teeth. Other foods can damage your braces, compromising treatment.

4 Types of Foods to Avoid When Using Clear Braces

Your clear aligners remain fixed for the duration of treatment, just like metal braces. Brushing and flossing are difficult with braces on, but you can reduce the challenge by avoiding specific foods. Popcorn, ice, chewing gum, nuts, pretzels, hard crackers, chewy candies, chips, and crunchy fruits/vegetables are the primary foods to avoid. 

You should stay away from beets, berries, yellow mustard, lots of curry and turmeric, red wine, and soy sauce. Other foods to avoid include dark soda, coffee, tea, and dishes and beverages with artificial coloring. Most orthodontists recommend staying away from such foods and other similar ingredients that fall into four main classes:

1.    Sticky Foods

You should avoid sticky foods that get in between your teeth and under the braces. Removing the remains underneath the contraption is challenging because the braces get in the way. You may easily damage the braces or have to spend a longer time cleaning and flossing your teeth. Popular foods to avoid include gum, chewy candy, popcorn, toffees, and other chewy and sticky treats.

2.    Sugary Foods

Eating foods with too much sugar is bad for your oral hygiene, whether or not you have braces. Wearing the braces makes it harder to properly remove excess sugar from your teeth. Sugary foods are sticky and one of the leading causes of plaque, resulting in tooth decay and infections. Harmful bacteria thrive on sugar, so you should avoid sweets, sodas, and other processed beverages.

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3.    Stained Foods

You should keep away from foods that stain your teeth because they contradict using clear aligners. Foods like turmeric, yellow mustard, red wine, curry, dark soda, and beets will stain your teeth and aligners. The stains make the aligners visible and require more cleaning effort, which may interfere with the braces. You should clean your teeth immediately after meals to avoid staining.

4.    Hard/Crunchy Foods

Hard and crunchy foods can damage your teeth and the clear braces, so you should avoid them during treatment. If the brace wires become damaged, you’ll need an emergency trip to the orthodontist to get an adjustment. The trips will cost you more and set your treatment journey back a few more weeks. Avoid nuts, crunchy vegetables and fruits, corn on the cob, and hard candies. 

Why You Should Avoid These Foods

Avoiding sticky, stained, sugary, and hard/crunchy foods has many benefits. You’ll find it easier to clean your teeth and braces. Good oral hygiene is beneficial for your health and aesthetics. Avoiding certain foods protects your teeth and braces from damage. Clear aligners may easily get damaged when eating hard foods or constantly probing your teeth to remove stuck remains. Avoiding these foods saves you repeat trips to the dentist.

Your orthodontist will recommend a list of nutritious foods and replacements you can eat during treatment. If you’re unsure whether a specific ingredient is good to eat with braces, consult your orthodontist to avoid compromising the results. You should avoid everything from hard taco shells to pizza crusts, tomatoes, and fizzy drinks. If the orthodontist advises you to avoid specific foods and ingredients, keep away. You should clean and floss after every meal.

Caring for Clear Braces 

Clear aligners are ideal for people looking to correct misaligned teeth and bite issues. Before getting the braces fit, your orthodontist will discuss various aspects, including the diet and oral care. Working with reputable orthodontists and credible facilities is the best approach to getting the desired results. Start with fitted, clear braces, and then follow all diet and oral hygiene instructions from the orthodontist.

Maintaining Dental Health With Braces

Keeping up with great dental propensities while wearing supports is one method for staying away from harm. Ensure you clean your teeth something like three times each day, ideally after every dinner, utilizing a delicate shuddered toothbrush.

Give additional consideration to the space around your supports and eliminate all hints of food. Use floss to clean between your teeth, as well as a floss threader, to eliminate food particles from among supports and wires.

It’s essential to see your orthodontist, yet additionally your dental specialist for normal cleanings and tests. Dental cleanings are crucial for eliminate any plaque development, which adds to holes and gum infection.

Orthodontist arrangements guarantee that your supports remain appropriately fitted.

Your dental specialist may likewise prescribe utilizing a fluoride mouthwash to assist with fortifying your teeth and lower the gamble of tooth rot.

Learning different biting methods can likewise forestall harm to supports. Rather than biting food with your front teeth, it very well may be more straightforward to bite with your back teeth, which are more grounded. This can forestall harm to your supports while eating thicker breads or meats.

What To Do If Wires or Bands On Your Braces Come Loose

During the time you have supports, you’ll have intermittent meetings with your orthodontist to change your supports. Different issues can happen between customary changes, similar to a free or broken wire or band.

This can happen if you:

• eat sticky or crunchy foods
• pick at your braces
• have an injury to your mouth

Assuming you disapprove of your supports, make a meeting with your orthodontist immediately. Disregarding the harm or deferring a maintenance might actually sluggish your treatment time.

Try not to pull or twist a messed up wire or section. You could cause more harm. All things considered, place a piece of wet cotton or orthodontic wax over the sharp edge until you’re ready to see a dental specialist or orthodontist.

Takeaway

Getting supports can work on your teeth. Yet, assuming you eat some unacceptable kinds of food and don’t keep up with great dental cleanliness, there’s the gamble of harming your supports and teeth.

Your dental specialist or orthodontist will talk about what food varieties to keep away from. Assuming you have any inquiries, make sure to. Harming your supports could drag out your treatment, importance you’ll need to wear them for a more extended time frame.