Braces give the gift of straight teeth, but they require some dedication! If your teen has braces, they’ll need to make a few sacrifices as the orthodontics work to realign their smile.
Your orthodontist likely covered the basics, but other risks are lesser-known. Let’s review everything your teen should avoid to help their braces work correctly.
Skip Hard and Sticky Foods
Hard foods can damage brackets and wires, causing painful breaks that require emergency dental visits. They can even crack and chip your teen’s teeth because of the added pressure from metal components. If this happens, you would need to take emergency action to get the tooth repaired.
Foods to avoid include ice, hard candy, nuts, popcorn, and sticky treats like caramel or taffy. These culprits can pull brackets right off teeth or snap wires completely.
Play Contact Sports Without Protection
Football, hockey, and wrestling pose serious risks to teens with braces. A blow to the mouth can cut lips and cheeks on metal brackets or damage the orthodontic work entirely.
Your teen doesn’t have to quit sports completely, though! They can still play with an orthodontic mouthguard that protects both their braces and their mouth.
Don’t Chew on Pens or Pencils
Many teens have a nervous habit of chewing on pens, pencils, or even their fingernails. This unconscious action can be disastrous for braces. The consistent, focused pressure on a single bracket can easily cause it to pop off the tooth. Remind your teen to find another outlet for their nervous energy, like a fidget toy.
Forget About Using Teeth as Tools
Teeth aren’t scissors, bottle openers, or pliers. Using them to open packages or rip off tags is a bad habit for anyone, but it’s especially risky for someone with braces. This can apply extreme, targeted force to a small area, which leads to broken brackets and bent wires.
Neglect Their Oral Hygiene Routine
Brushing and flossing become more challenging with braces, but skipping these steps leads to serious problems. Plaque buildup around brackets can cause permanent white spots on teeth or even cavities.
Your teen needs to brush after every meal and floss daily with special orthodontic floss or water flossers.
A Brighter Smile Awaits
Having braces can be limiting, but these limits are usually only in place for a few years. The straight teeth they bring can last your teen a lifetime. To answer what can’t your teen do with braces, it mostly comes down to protecting their hardware from damage. Make sure your teen knows to avoid these activities and offer them support or alternatives if they’re sad about missing out on their favorite snacks or pastimes.
