Sometimes as a parent, it can be difficult to deny your children certain things. But, if your goal is to ensure your children stay healthy, it’s important to create some boundaries and rules, especially when it comes to dental care. When your children get braces, they’re bound to experience a bit of discomfort. In order to keep this discomfort to a minimum, and to ensure they maintain a healthy mouth, it’s important that they avoid particular foods that could wear down their orthodontics. The Pediatric Dental Group has a list of five foods kids with braces should avoid in order to keep their braces in great shape so they can get them off on time:

Sticky, Sweet Foods – Even without braces, sticky, sweet foods and sugary sodas are hard on your teeth and lead to tooth decay. Sticky treats like taffy, gummy bears, and caramels can negatively impact the brackets on braces. These foods have the ability to loosen brackets, which in turn means more time spent wearing braces.

Hard, Crunchy or Extra Chewy Foods – Foods such as tortilla chips, nuts, hard candy, raw carrots, pretzels, and bagels can bend braces’ wires and even damage the resin that attaches each bracket to the tooth. If the resin is weakened enough, the bracket can come off the tooth completely, resulting in additional trips to your orthodontist’s office.

Ice – If your child enjoys crunching on ice, make sure they curb the habit, especially when they have braces. The cold crunching can damage the resin bond between the bracket and tooth, plus it can actually cause cracks in teeth too!

Chewing Gum – Anyone with braces has likely lived to regret chewing gum while they have them. Bubble gum gets stuck in the brackets and wires creating quite a mess that’s very difficult to clean up. The last thing your child needs is remnants of chewing gum getting lodged within their braces for days on end.

Popcorn – Popcorn kernels have a habit of getting lodged between teeth and even between teeth and the gum line. This is especially difficult to mediate with braces. To avoid any potential infections or gum disease, it’s best to avoid popcorn altogether until the braces come off.

As always, consider slicing food into bite size pieces to avoid any aggressive biting with the front teeth. If you’re looking for a pediatric dentist in Honolulu, call Pediatric Dental Group today at (808) 593-8828 or visit their website to learn more about scheduling your child’s next dental exam.