What foods work best with braces?
I haven’t had braces since the early 90s, but I didn’t specifically have to avoid any foods, except chewy stuff – gum, soft caramel type candies….things of that texture. It’ll get all gunked up in the metal, and can pop off/junk up the works. Even if it doesn’t, it’s still freakin’ annoying (I may have snuck some caramels on Halloween one year! Delicious, but gunky.) If he just got them on Friday, they’re probably definitely still sore. He should feel better in a few days. I remember getting them tightened every month or so when I had them, and it stunk. Nothing debilitating (about on par with a headache that you can still function with, but won’t go away), but it would make my gums/jaw sore for 4ish days, and the last thing I wanted to do was bite in to anything. For the sore times, I remember my mom making me soft foods that I didn’t have to chew too much – oatmeal for breakfast, PB&J/tuna sandwiches for lunch, etc.
For the first two weeks, I ate a lot of Carnation Instant Breakfast, mashed potatoes, and mac & cheese. After that, I ate anything (with the exceptions already mentioned: taffy, Sugar Daddies, etc.). You can’t really avoid foods that stick in your braces, because they all do! One of the worst offenders is salad of any kind. I hated eating salad in a restaurant, but I just carried my little dental toolkit everywhere. Floss, threaders, etc. I did have braces as an adult, and it’s supposed to be more painful because your jaw bone is harder. One thing you can do that helps immensely is to chew gum immediately after getting your bands tightened. Carefree is nonstick, but I would chew anything, just being careful to keep the gum on the surfaces of my teeth. Chew it for about 30 minutes. Also, take ibuprofen about 2 hours before the appointment.
I had braces for 7 (!) years, beginning with a palate expander for 2 (!) years. At first, it was painful to even eat a cheese doodle. But weeks later was better. If something was stuck in front – rarely, I’d just lick it off or rinse with water until I got home. About a year into my braces I was able to eat anything including gum, taffy, caramel, etc. But this did come at a price because I hadn’t had a cleaning the entire time I had braces and when I finally did visit the dentist, they found cavities galore. So I recommend regular dentist appointments/ sonic toothbrush. It’s very hard to floss.
As an adult, the pain from braces sometimes lasted A LOT longer for me (we’re talking 2-3 weeks, rather than 2-3 days) than it did when I was a teenager. My malpractice-worthy orthodontist tells me this is “perfectly normal,” for what it’s worth. So if you’re sick of making soft foods at home, I’ll share my secret: Cracker Barrel and Boston Market Oh sure, it’s not the finest of cuisine, but for the first few days, you can get a “side dish plate” that gives you a better collection of foods than you could make for yourself. Cracker Barrel: Mashed potatoes, Dumplings, Mac and Cheese, Hashbrown Casserole. In the soft food to normal food transition period, you can try their roast beef dinner. It’s fork tender and you don’t need to chew much to get it down. Boston Market: Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes, Creamed Spinach, Sweet Potato Casserole. Chicken, any kind of bread, and salad will probably be too much for him until he is out of the painful adjustment phase.
