How to enjoy Thanksgiving with braces
As the holidays roll around, it can be very tempting to eat at our heart’s content. Next Level Orthodontics is here to guide our patients through the holidays to avoid broken brackets and delayed treatment! Dr. Ashley Smith wants everyone to enjoy their Thanksgiving feast, but he also wants to make sure we can get our patients finished with their treatment as soon as possible, so they can enjoy their next Thanksgiving without braces! Next Level Orthodontics has come up with a list of some foods to be cautious of during your Thanksgiving dinner!
- Crunchy Raw Fruits & Vegetables – Raw vegetables are typically crunchy enough to break off brackets, this can include raw carrots, apples, or celery if you are biting straight into them. Although Dr. Ashley Smith and the Next Level Orthodontics team highly encourage to eat fruits and vegetables, it is important to be mindful of how you eat your fruits and vegetables. Making sure that you cut up the fruits and vegetables into smaller pieces and chew with your back molars to avoid any breakage.
- Popcorn – The soft popcorn that doesn’t have the hard kernels is okay as the kernels are the truly hazardous part of the popcorn that could potentially break brackets.
- Hard Chips – Hard chips such as tortilla chips, Fritos, Cheetos, and Takis are the harder chips you’ll find at the HEB or Walmart, so these should be avoided as they are more likely to break brackets and could even delay your treatment.
- Nuts – Nuts are a big item to avoid during treatment as they are so hard they can easily break brackets.
- Turkey Or Ham Off The Bone – Don’t worry, you can still eat turkey and ham, just make sure it’s not directly off the bone!
- Caramel Apples – As delicious as they are, both the caramel and the apple can be very dangerous for your orthodontic treatment. The caramel is very sticky and hard, and the apple can be too crunchy for your brackets to stay on.
- Corn On The Cob – Again, you are more than welcome to eat corn, just make sure you are not eating it off of the cob! Eating corn off the cob, for the same reason that you shouldn’t eat turkey off the bone, can easily break your brackets.
Request your free consultation with Dr. Ashley Smith and the Next Level Orthodontics team, today!
