Metal Mouth Message Board

With the popcorn, just be careful about what you are eating. Watch out for those unpopped kernels. Those things are dangerous for anybody's teeth, but could definitely do damage to braces. I just chew gently and make sure that I pay attention when I get down to the last bit of the bag where those hard bits like to hang out.

Ahmm please humour me...Why is everyone so worried about soda? That was not on my no-no list!! I've been drinking it as normal!

Soda isn't specifically a problem just with braces. It's just bad for teeth in general. Now, with braces, you are more likely to end up with the soda causing uneven decalcifications around the bases of the brackets, leaving you with funky white spots on your teeth when you are done. But the soda is really a problem for everybody's teeth, not just those that are braced.

I got a short "no-no" list. It's printed on the back of my appointment reminder:

a. No chewy candy or hard candy
b. No popcorn - the hulls get caught in the braces
c. Do not eat ice or suck on it.

I was never a popcorn or hard/chewy candy eater, except for Snickers bars, so this wasn't really a hardship for me. I must admit, I don't understand why you can't suck on ice, though.

I must be the only one who stays away from the no-no foods!

I do. My ortho warned me that if a broken bracket happens I could prolong treatment, PLUS she said that should that happen, the broken bracket cost was NOT included in my initial charge. So I stay away from my no-no foods.

Honestly, most of the time it's not comfortable to eat that chewy stuff anyway, especially now that she's been working on my bite quite a bit.

And I have to admit I'm having a ridiculously good time planning what my first meal is going to be like when I get these things off.

I cant imagine a life without chewing ice/sucking on ice

Meryaten wrote:
I have to admit, at first I was a little bit concerned about breaking off brackets, but 2 years in and then some, and not a single one has come off.

You're tempting the fates, you know.

A friend told me that in Jamaica they say 'don't put your mouth on it' which is quite apt... means if you say it, it might happen

melted cheese is my demon food - love eating it - hate cleaning it out of every bracket, I also read you can choke on it, yum yum

no gom, hard candy or soda please. He emphasized the soda. Now I have not been a saint and had a rootbeer or two and nothing happened. I dont make soda a daily habit though (that is lattes). The first time I had a soda was only because the machine was out of water and the other one wouldn't take my dollar. My former office manager has been banded since sept and drinks coke daily.

I did discover after eating a particularly cheesy cheeseburger that melted cheese is the devil, but I will put up with it because I love cheese that much.

Ice..most people here probably know I am an ice chewing addict and will be one for life, It is very difficult not to chew ice until I do and the discomfort reminds me it's a no no.

I agree with whoever said the canned tea should not be allowed to be called tea at all but decarbonated soda. (added last part myself.) I can see how it would be bad for one's teeth.

I also discovered that nuts especially whole almonds are on my personal no no list. They just hurt. My boyfriend and i went to Cold Stone last night and every single recipe involved fudge, caramel, and nuts. I thought that peanut butter cups would not be a problem so I got coffee ice cream with peanut butter cups and they werre sort of frozen...owww.

Still havent tried steak.

My boyfriend thinks I should chew on a rubber ball but I think that could be dangerous.

When I got braces almost three months ago I planned to give up all those "no-no" foods, but, well, it didn't quite happen that way. I eat all the things I used to, including popcorn. I just couldn't give up the buttery popcorn, although I eat it much more slowly and carefully, one piece at a time now (which makes it last longer and saves me money at the movie theater). I also bite into things like pizza and burgers, as long as they're not too hard or chewy. I'm always really careful, and I haven't broken a single thing yet!

I laid off soda about six months ago (after a 20 year habit of many a day) and lost at least 10 pounds. that was enough to get me on the bandwagon anyway. there are dozens of other reasons not to drink soda, but use your braces as a reason to stop spending the money on it - drink water instead!

i used seltzer (store-brand sparkling water, not perrier) to get off the sweetened crap. all soda has acids and other yucky stuff in it you would not really want to ingest if you thought about it... I didn't for a long time!

otherwise, I lay off food that hurts - like banana chips - tried them once - tried ONE once. that was enough.

I eat raw carrots (cut up or the peeled 'baby' carrots) all the time (and brush for a long time after that!), and all sorts of other 'verboten' things. I'm especially careful with chips and harder nuts (raw walnuts seem to be ok) and I generally avoid the messy stuff (ribs, chicken wings - finger food) when out with friends. who wants to spend fifteen minutes cleaning your braces when you're out with friends?

otherwise I really have not had any problems, even with <blush> chewing gum. until today - if you want to stop yourself from chewing gum, just watch yourself in the mirror for about 2 minutes. that should do the trick. (stopped me in my tracks!)

lay off the soda though, in all forms. no nutritional value!

tommyfive- Congrats on kicking the 20 year soda habit (I almost said "coke habit" but that just didn't sound appropriate LOL)! Did you do it cold turkey, or did you wean yourself off? I used to drink close to a 6 pack of Dr. Pepper a day (not exaggerating), and about a month ago, I switched to Diet DP... I know it's not a major step, but I am gradually getting off of them... From here, I plan to either a) start drinking water for at least 3 weeks straight - to try out that theory about "21 days", and see if it sticks or b) if I can't hack that, I plan to go to Caffeine-free Diet DP temporarily, then go strictly to water (I figure, I've gotten off the sugar, and now I use the caffiene as an excuse i.e. "If I don't drink a soda, I get a caffiene headache", etc... and if I get rid of both, then I can't tell myself I have an excuse... then I just have to fess up that my willpower sucks and force myself to drink water instead LOL) I can already see the effect of not drinking "real" soda though (I lost 4 pounds so far!! yay!!)

Oh and I recently watched that show "Super Size Me".... yeah, not so into fast-food anymore after that either I knew it wasn't good for you, but I never knew it could cause that much damage in so short a time!! (BTW, if any of you haven't seen it, it's worth watching... even if you don't take anything away from it, it's pretty entertaining!) So, hopefully, I'll use my health as an excuse not to eat junk, instead of putting the blame on my braces

~Kysha

I drank only diet soda, but I gave it up cold turkey when my braces went on in October, 2005. I haven't had once since and I really don't miss it. My reason was the acid in the soda. I do like some of the flavored "fizzy" waters that are available and I drink iced tea.

My real vices are coffee, tea and red wine, in that order. And, I didn't stop those, but I slowed down on the red wine because I was worried about staining my ligs.

ETA: In January, I started on the South Beach Diet and gave up sugar in my coffee and tea. Cold turkey. That was more difficult than giving up soda.

I quit almost cold turkey. Give it a month or two and keep water close by.

I did a couple of 'just one today' and 'ok, maybe a diet pepsi" days and found myself in a few situations where a soda cost a whole lot less than the equivalent bottle of water and drank soda more-or-less out of protest. (I think bottled water is a scam)

i hate the taste of all diet beverages and all the fake sweeteners, so i found it easier to just quit sweeteners than to find a substitute for sugar.

coffee helps a lot to replace the caffeine, and since I don't like the taste as much, I can go without coffee more easily than I could have without soda when I was drinking it.

when I talk about it, sometimes I feel like people see me as one of those reformed 'holier than thou' folks who can say they've been there, done that, and this is how it is. I'm not like that really, but I can tell you I'm definitely better for quitting soda.

Don't get me started about television though...

"coke habit" - lol

I've stayed away from all the "no-no" foods like chips, hard pretzels, and sticky candy, but I've still managed to pop a bracket and a wire in a little under a month.

I have no idea what I'm doing wrong, but if I'm going to be at the ortho's every week I may as well just have a caramel apple and be done with it!