Braces are the natural enemy of candy eaters, primarily because when you’ve got a mouthful of metal, you’re not supposed to have a mouthful of candy, too. Many is a parent who has endured an expensive trip to the orthodontist to repair or replace various bits of mouth hardware which fell awry of a Skittles.
The Raising a Healthy Family website has developed a list of thirty foods which your orthodontist hates. Of course the article should be about thirty things he loves, because all those repairs have got to be helping to plump up the old bank balance. Not surprisingly, twenty one of the items listed are candy. All the old favorites are on the “no go” list, including Starburst, Twizzlers, gummy bears and of course Tootsie Rolls. So what is a teenage Candy Addict supposed to eat, given this enormous list of things which are not allowed?
As long as you steer clear of the really sticky and chewy candies out there, I think you can get away with quite a bit. Pixy Stix were not on that list, nor was basic chocolate (hooray!) and some of the hard candies can probably be sucked rather than bitten and still be okay. As long as you’re brushing vigorously afterwards, I think you can probably hide most candy eating sins.
At Candy Addict we love our pearly whites a lot – more, in fact, than most people, since it’s healthy teeth which enable us to KEEP eating the candy we love. Like anything, use your best judgment, and don’t do like my 7th grade best friend did. She used to squish pieces of candy (like Now and Laters, or half a Tic Tac) on her braces as a sort of cap on broken/loose wires so that they didn’t dig into her mouth or gums. She would then happily continue eating her usual array of sticky snacks until the patches “wore out” or she got tired of replacing them. Not really a recommended dental plan… but she always had fresh breath!
- Raising a Healthy Family: List of 30 foods your orthodontist hates
You know, I had braces for 5 years. And out of that list the only two things I didn’t eat were ice (I hate chewing ice.. just the thought makes me twitch) and peanut brittle..
And I never broke anything.
April 4th, 2008 at 12:57 pmI have braces right now and i pretty much eat all candy except when i eat taffy i suck on it and its all good Yep i dont eat gum though cause when i tried it got stuck in there AHHHH!!!
June 17th, 2008 at 1:46 pmim eleven and i think braces arent like that bad except when you get them tightend thats when it hurts !!!
the picture of the person with braces it looks like tootaly weird
did i spell that right
June 18th, 2008 at 9:27 pmThanks for the advice! I just got braces but I don’t wanna give up candy!!!
January 6th, 2011 at 6:44 pmI am so nervous! I’m going to get braces really soon! I hope they don’t hurt too much, but if they do, at least I’m getting a nicer smile! Lol :)
October 14th, 2011 at 7:59 pmWhat about pixy sticks? Will they stain your braces??
July 11th, 2012 at 9:42 pm