Here is a list of foods to avoid EATING and a list of foods to avoid BITING into while wearing braces. This list is only a guide and there are other foods that you may find in your diet which you must avoid eating or biting into whilst in orthodontic treatment.

In addition to the foods, dont chew on hard things (for example, pens, pencils or fingernails) as chewing on these can damage your braces. Remember, damaged braces will cause treatment to take longer.

Foods to Avoid

• MUESLI BARS and ALL other hard, sticky snack bars
• All kinds of NUTS
• All types of LOLLIES
• MUESLI AND CRUNCHY CEREAL. To make sure its not crunchy; soak it longer than usual in milk.
• CRUST ON HARD BREAD, TOAST and PIZZA. Just eat the soft part of the bread, toast and pizza.
• BISCUITS. Only eat biscuits if you are dipping them into a hot drink, otherwise they are too hard for the braces!
• CORN CHIPS and TACOS. These bigger chips can break the braces.
• PORK CRACKLING
• HARD CHOCOLATE

Foods to avoid BITING into

• FRUIT & RAW VEGETABLES. These are both hard and crunchy, so all you have to do is cut these foods up into small pieces or grate them so that you are not biting into them but just chewing.
• STONE FRUITS. The flesh of these fruits is usually soft, but the stone isnt so cut these fruits up into small pieces to avoid biting into the stone.
• FRUIT WITH SEEDS OR PIPS. Take care when eating these sorts of fruits as you cant always find all of the pips or seeds.
• MEAT ON THE BONE. You could accidentally contact the bone with your braces if you gnaw on the bones, so simply cut the meat off the bone to avoid this happening.
• CORN ON THE COB. Cut the corn kernels off the cob to avoid biting into the cob.
• ICE BLOCKS, ICE CREAMS and ICE CUBES. Just suck on these.