Dietary Guidelines for Orthodontic Patients

Hard and crunchy foods

• Hard and crunchy foods because they entail a great risk of breaking or detaching your orthodontic appliances. They must absolutely be banned from your diet during your treatment.

• Raw vegetables (carrot, celery, radish, etc.) and whole raw fruits, such as apples and fruits that are not quite ripe. However, you can cook them until tender or eat them raw, but grated.

• Very hard nuts, such as whole almonds, peanuts, Brazil nuts, hazelnuts, etc. Whenever possible, you can eat them crushed or in thin slices.

• “Jawbreakers“, cough lozenges, lollipops and other hard candies, such as Skittles and peanut M&Ms

• Popcorn is particularly harmful: the hard and unpopped grains of corn are hard to munch and husks can get stuck under the gum and cause an infection. An infected gum will slow down tooth movement.

• French fries and Greek fries that are small and crunchy or those that have slightly overcooked edges. You can refrain from eating those that are too small, cut the hard edges or simply cut the fries and the potatoes in small pieces before
  eating them.

• Pretzels and hard crackers. If you suddenly crave salty foods, you can favor “normal” potato chips that are softer or let the other types of potato chips and crackers soften before chewing them.

• Croutons in salads, unless they have softened with salad dressing.

• Certain types of cereals can be particularly hard and crunchy when they are dry. It is then forbidden to eat them without softening them with milk or any other liquid beforehand.