Life With Braces
Braces help patients achieve their ideal smile, but they require adjustments to daily habits while treatment is ongoing.
From eating habits, to oral hygiene, to managing activities, this page covers what patients should expect once treatment starts.
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Eating With Braces
Simple Habits, Smooth Treatment
Eating is one of the main adjustments patients with braces must make. The goal is simple: keep brackets on, keep wires straight, and keep teeth clean and healthy throughout treatment. That means patients must be mindful of the foods they eat, how they eat food, and how they maintain oral hygiene after eating.
With braces, the adhesive used to bond brackets to teeth must be strong enough for eating, but must also allow for removal when treatment ends. This balance means hard foods can break brackets, bend wires, and extend treatment time, and should be avoided. Sticky foods can get stuck in braces, making them tricky to clean.
Foods to Enjoy
Soft foods are easiest, especially when a patient is first adjusting to braces. Seedless fruits, pasta, soft-cooked vegetables, tender cuts of meat, smoothies, cheese, and soft breads are examples of food unlikely to damage braces.
Foods to Avoid
Hard, sticky, and crunchy foods pose the biggest risk. Examples include popcorn, nuts, hard candies, frozen foods, hard vegetables, and more. Sticky foods can also pose a risk to brackets and are very difficult to clean. Cutting hard foods into smaller pieces can minimize risk.
Caring For Braces
Braces create more surface area and difficult-to-reach places for food to get trapped and plaque to build up.
Because of this, patients must be consistent and diligent with oral hygiene, or risk white spots on teeth, cavities, and gum problems. If plaque remains on the teeth around the brackets, the acid produced by bacteria can cause enamel scars. This results in permanent white spots on teeth when the braces are removed.
Brushing With Braces
Brush after meals when possible. If not possible, rinse well with water and brush when you can. Angle the brush above and below the brackets. Patients often only brush the front faces and miss the edges. Electric toothbrushes work well, as long as patients don’t rush through brushing.
Flossing With Braces
Use floss threaders, orthodontic flossers, or a water flosser. A water flosser is a great tool but it doesn’t replace actual flossing for many patients. At first, mild bleeding is common and improves quickly. If it doesn’t, contact our office.
Managing Discomfort
Soreness is normal after braces go on and after adjustment visits. The teeth are moving, and the soreness is a sign that the treatment is progressing.
Most patients describe it as pressure or tenderness when biting, almost as if their teeth feel bruised. It usually peaks in the first couple days and fades over the following weeks.
Braces can cause irritation of the lips and cheeks, especially when they first go on. Typically this fades over time as the mouth adjusts. Orthodontic wax can be placed over brackets to lessen irritation, if needed. Sharp pain or acute poking can indicate a more serious issue: patients should call us if experiencing this type of discomfort.
Over-the-counter pain relievers like ibuprofen or acetaminophen can help with discomfort after appointments.
Handling Orthodontic Emergencies
True emergencies involving severe pain or trauma are rare; most issues typically involve a loose bracket or a poking wire, and often can be handled at home.
If a wire is poking, the patient can try pushing it down gently with a pencil eraser or covering it with orthodontic wax. For loose or detached brackets, call our office and we’ll provide guidance for a fix.
Braces and Activities
Patients who play sports must use an orthodontic mouthguard. They’re designed to fit over braces and protect both the teeth and the soft tissue inside the mouth.
Any contact sport – football, basketball, soccer, wrestling, and more – always warrants a mouthguard.
Playing musical instruments may require a short adjustment period, but most patients adapt within a few weeks.
Managing Appointments
Appointments keep treatment on track, and missing them can allow teeth to drift and lead to big issues and extended treatment timelines.
Schedule the next visit before leaving the office. If something breaks, call right away to ensure treatment doesn’t fall off course. Wear all appliances and elastics as prescribed.
If a patient is going to travel, let us know well ahead of time so we can plan around it.
Life with Braces FAQ
Contact Us
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Opening Summer 2026.
Communities we Serve
We treat patients from across Washington, D.C., Prince George’s, Anne Arundel, Charles, and Calvert counties, and more. Some communities we serve include: