Please do not eat hard foods: nuts, ice, crisp taco shells, whole apples and carrots (cut them into pieces first), hard French bread crust and rolls, spareribs, corn on the cob (cut the corn off the cob before eating), and popcorn! These foods risk breaking brackets and wires. Also beware of nail biting and pen or pencil chewing habits, since these can damage your braces. Do not eat sticky foods: taffy, caramels, bubble gum, or sticky candy of any sort. Use common sense about most foods.

Damaged appliances always mean extra appointments, inconvenience, needless extra charges, and extended treatment time. Even though accidents do happen, almost every loose band or broken wire is due to patient carelessness. We ask you to stay away form the following foods:

Hard Foods:

• Ice
• Kernels
• Carrots
• Whole Apples
• Pizza Crust
• Hard Crusts
• Doritos™ Chips
• Tacos
• Tostados
• Fritos
• Bagels
• Popcorn

Sticky Foods:

• Bubble Gum
• Caramel
• Taffy
• Jolly Ranchers™
• Gummy Beara
• Hard Candies

(Note: All of the above foods aggravate sore muscles and can cause your jaws to hurt if you have joint problems. Do stay away from these types of food.)

Bad Habits:

• Do not bite your nails
• Do not pick your wires
• Do not chew on pens or pencils

Helpful Hints:

• Learn to cut and tear your food into small, bite size pieces so they don’t break or bend your appliances.
• Stay away from sweets and carbonated drinks.

This will prevent cavities and marks on your teeth when the braces are removed.

Absolutely No: Gum: Sugarless or otherwise Sticky Foods: Caramels Sugar Daddies Starbursts Caramel Apples Sugar Babies Licorice Toffee Tootsie Rolls Now & Laters

Eat with Caution or Cut up: Hard Foods Nuts Popcorn Bagels Apples Corn on the Cob Pizza Crusts Carrots (uncooked) Doritos Pretzels

Eat much less: Candy Ice Cream Cake, Cookies Pie Foods with Sugar Drink much less: Pop/Soda Drinks with Sugar