Dos and Don’ts

There are a handful of items you’ll be given in order to keep your teeth and gums healthy throughout your treatment. This list includes an orthodontic toothbrush, travel toothbrush/pick, timer, floss/threaders, orthodontic wax and mouth mirror.

There are several “dos and don’ts” to follow when in braces:

• Avoid biting and tearing into hard foods such as apples and pears on the core, meat on the bone, carrot sticks, corn on the cob, bagels, pizza crust and hard French bread crusts. Simply cut your food into bite size pieces (or off the core or cob) to avoid breaking brackets.
• Stay away from anything sticky or gooey such as Laffy Taffy’s, Starbursts, Milk Duds, caramel, gum, popcorn, GUM and Jolly Ranchers. These types of candy can bend wires and break brackets. There is plenty of candy that you can enjoy, just choose your candy wisely.
• Avoid nail biting, nervous picking at your braces, pushing on brackets and wires with your fingers, chewing on pencils, plastic forks, spoons and straws.

Mouth guards are required for all contact sports. We recommend the Shock Doctor, which is made especially for braces. This can be purchased at most sporting goods stores.

The list of sports requiring mouth guards include:

• Football
• Basketball
• Baseball/Softball
• Field Hockey
• Hockey
• Wrestling
• Soccer
• Volleyball
• Tennis
• Boxing
• Martial Arts