Although your orthodontist has probably told you not to eat certain foods, and although we do not necessarily condone it, most of us eat the “forbidden foods” anyway. These were discussed in our post, Damaging Delectables.
We know that a lot of these foods get stuck in your braces really easily, so here are some tips for dislodging the toughest pieces:
1. If it is a piece of chewy candy, you can swish-and-spit some hot/warm water. The water will help to dissolve the sugar in the candy, thus making it easier to remove.
2. Short of trying to push out the food with your tongue, sometimes your orthodontist will give you a little tool that is a pipe-cleaner with a little plastic handle that can be used to push out the snagged pieces (this device was discussed in the post Cleaning Techniques). Another option would be to use a toothpick!
3. You can brush your teeth or floss. It may seem obvious, but sometimes it is easier to just brush your teeth than it is to spend time trying to push out the food by hand.
One problem is that if you are out in public and you get some food stuck in your braces you can’t pick at it with your fingers because that would be rude, and you will most likely not be able to brush your teeth, so the simple solution is to not get food stuck in the first place! Here are two tips to do this:
1. Try to in general steer clear of the foods that get stuck easily, like corn, lettuce, pineapple, etc. If you just don’t eat these foods, then you will not have to even worry about getting gobs of food stuck!
2. If you are going to eat the foods that get caught, try chewing it slowly and carefully. When you chew really quickly and heavily, you jam the food up in your braces, so try chewing a bit more carefully.
-Erik and Amanda
No comments:
Post a Comment