Smile Correction Devices: The Good, The Bad And The Amazing

Getting braces for your teeth will soon provide you with an eye-catching smile -- in the meantime, you'll need to learn how to care for the braces, how to keep your teeth clean and even how to adjust your diet. While you'll still be able to eat a long list of foods that you've always enjoyed, there are a handful of other options that are best to avoid. These foods can either damage your braces outright or prevent you from being able to effectively clean your teeth. Here are three such foods that you should skip until your braces come off.

Popcorn

It's tough to resist a bowl of popcorn when you sit down to watch a movie, but the reality is this air-popped snack can be detrimental to those with braces in multiple ways. There's always the acute risk that you'll inadvertently bite into an unpopped or semi-popped kernel that is hard enough to knock one of the brackets off your teeth or damage one of your wires, prompting an emergency visit to your oral care provider. Additionally, when you chew popcorn, it can develop a soft and gummy consistency that can easily coat the areas around your braces. This will make your teeth hard to clean when you brush them, which means you might be leaving food directly on your tooth enamel and risking damage.

Crusty Bread

A crusty bun or slice of bread offers a satisfying texture and taste, but you can quickly find yourself regretting this type of food if you have braces. If the baked product is especially crusty, you might bite into it and twist it to help cut through it with your teeth. This twisting motion, which involves considerable pressure, can put a strain on your braces and risk damaging them. Additionally, the gluey nature of such bread products will fill any tiny cracks between the braces and your teeth, making it difficult to brush your teeth thoroughly.

Chicken Wings

Biting into a chicken wing can be detrimental to the condition of your braces because of the bones hidden in the meat. Even if you approach this food carefully, it's possible for a sharp piece of bone to get wedged between your teeth and your braces and pull the latter loose. If you love the taste of chicken wings, there's a way to get around the risk they carry -- simply cut the meat away from the bones and eat the chicken with a fork.

To learn more, contact a dental clinic like Clark Family Dentistry.