What Can You Eat With Braces? Foods to Enjoy and Avoid

What can you eat with braces day to day?

Think of your diet as mostly unchanged, just adjusted for texture. Soft, moist and bite-sized foods are easy on brackets and wires, and they’re easy to brush away afterward.

Braces friendly foods for every meal

Here are braces friendly foods that work for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks:

• BreakfastOatmeal, scrambled eggs, yogurt, smoothies, soft muffins and pancakes.
• LunchSoft sandwich bread, tuna or egg salad, soup, mac and cheese and hummus wraps.
• DinnerPasta, rice, meatballs, fish, shredded chicken and steamed vegetables.
• SnacksBananas, berries, applesauce, string cheese and soft cookies in moderation.

Crunchy fruits and vegetables are still on the menu. Slice apples thin, cut carrots into small sticks or steam them, and chew with your back teeth instead of biting into anything whole.

What are the foods to avoid with braces?

A handful of foods cause most bracket trouble. Knowing the foods to avoid with braces saves you unplanned repair visits and keeps treatment on schedule.

• ✓Hard foods: nuts, hard candy, ice, hard pretzels and crunchy taco shells
• ✓Sticky foods: caramel, taffy, gummies and chewing gum
• ✓Chewy foods: bagels, beef jerky and thick pizza crust
• ✓Bite-into foods: whole apples, corn on the cob and chicken wings
• ✓Habits: chewing pens, pencils or fingernails

If a bracket does come loose, call our office. It’s rarely an emergency, but we’ll want to fix it so your teeth keep moving as planned.

Can you eat popcorn with braces?

It’s best to skip it. Hulls slip under wires and between gums and teeth, and unpopped kernels can crack a bracket. If you’re asking, “Can you eat popcorn with braces just this once?” the risk usually isn’t worth it.

Does it matter if you wear LightForce braces or Invisalign?

With fixed braces, including our LightForce braces, the brackets stay on, so the food rules apply every day. LightForce brackets are custom 3D-printed ceramic, and they still need the same care around hard and sticky foods.

“What can you eat with braces?” has a simpler answer with Invisalign: you remove your aligners to eat, so there’s no food list. You do need to brush before putting them back in to keep food from being trapped against your teeth.

How do you keep teeth clean while eating with braces?

Food collects around brackets more easily, so brushing after meals matters. A few habits help:

1. 1
   Rinse: swish with water after eating if you can’t brush right away.
2. 2
   Brush: angle the brush above and below each bracket.
3. 3
   Floss: use a threader or water flosser once a day.
4. 4
   Limit sugar: sip sugary drinks with meals rather than all day.

The American Association of Orthodontists offers more tips for living with braces. For an overview of every option we offer, visit our orthodontic treatments page.

Frequently asked questions

What can you eat with braces at a restaurant?

Plenty. Pasta, soup, fish, rice bowls and tender chicken are easy choices. For pizza or burgers, skip hard crusts, cut everything into small pieces and chew with your back teeth to protect your front brackets.

How long does tooth soreness last after getting braces?

Usually a few days. Soft foods for braces, cool drinks and an over-the-counter pain reliever, if appropriate for you, can help. Tenderness also returns briefly after some adjustments and fades just as quickly.

Is chewing gum off-limits with braces?

Yes, for most patients. Gum sticks to brackets and wires and can bend them. It’s one of the classic foods to avoid with braces, along with caramel and taffy.