Metal Mouth Message Board

Personally, I found that I just didn't like chewing gum when I had braces on my teeth. It was weirdly uncomfortable and I decided it wasn't worth it. The gum kept sticking to the brackets, even the brand that isn't supposed to stick. I just gave up on it.

I don't know why but I have been scared to try gum because of fear of it sticking to my brackets. So good to know that it actually does.

The two times I have eaten anything remotely crunchy my wire has popped out, so I give up haha! The first time was an oatmeal cookie and the second time was a whole strawberry!

I eat everything and do not even bother to cut apples sometimes.
The only thing I try to avoid is potato chips because they stuck all over and in between the teeth especially , so make me feel uncomfortable until I floss.

I chew gum but not often, I eat nuts sometimes but very carefully, I eat cooked not raw carrots...*knocks on wood* nothing happened so far!

The only thing I am afraid of now but looking very forward to eating again is caramel.
I also don't bite into thick things, like a thick sandwich or a burger; if I have to, I go in from the side, somehow I think it's safer that with front teeth, lol

Whats the problem with chewing gum? Does it pull the brackets off?

I try to get away with pretty much anything! I've eaten peanuts, I chew gum once in a while, I really don't limit myself. The only things I won't eat are really sticky or hard candy, that just seems like asking for trouble. I agree about the potato chips getting stuck EVERYWHERE, but I have still eaten them a few times, just need to clean my mouth right after lol I also haven't been biting into much, just softer things. I can manage things like hot dogs, burgers that aren't too thick, sandwiches that aren't on crusty bread. I do try to be careful though because I'm worried about putting pressure on the wire on the front teeth and having it bend or pop out or something.

I'm pretty bad sometimes...I eat chips, crusty bread, popcorn, nuts (sometimes)...I definitely stay away from goopy/sticky stuff, though...no gum or caramel or taffy or anything. But in general I try to keep it soft or soft enough that if I cut it into pieces, I can chew it ok...

Man, I can't wait to actually BITE INTO a piece of pizza or a sandwich again someday...

I ate popcorn 3 times a week but then cleaned like mad!

Random update - I was feeling particularly reckless this summer and had corn on the cob a few times... (I've never had any problems with food so why not?) ... Didn't have have any mechanical problems, but my siblings had a field day over it. Talk about food stuck in your teeth, yikes! Thank goodness for my waterpik.

I had a granola bar on Friday night! SHHHHH!!

So far, I don't eat nuts and whole apples.
This is unfortunate, because I like both foods. But it just does not feel right to chew those things so I abstain. I know I can take a chance and have the braket replaced if needed, but I just don't want the hassle.

katiemcb09 wrote:Random update - I was feeling particularly reckless this summer and had corn on the cob a few times... (I've never had any problems with food so why not?) ... Didn't have have any mechanical problems, but my siblings had a field day over it. Talk about food stuck in your teeth, yikes! Thank goodness for my waterpik.

I did the same thing! Only, replace "siblings" with "husband". I just could NOT help myself, I couldn't imagine having to go another 12 months without even the chance to eat fresh sweet corn on the cob. Nothing moved, I was immensly satisfied, and only spent 15 mins cleaning everything out.

As far as gum goes, my ortho recommends chewing sugar-free gum to help "work through the tenderness" as he puts it. I started out with nonstick Freedent and had no troubles at all with it, no matter where it went in my mouth. Come to find out, Freedent isn't sugar free, oops! So I moved on to Trident and while I couldn't completely forget the fact that I was wearing braces while chewing it, I didn't have any troubles really. I just tried to avoid having it lasso any of my hooks. Now I'm onto Sugar-Free Bubblicious and loving it! This gum has been more difficult to actually chew (it gets a LOT tougher after the flavor goes away, usually 2 mins into chewing it), but I really love blowing bubbles and for some reason, I really like the whole "weirdly uncomfortable" feeling BBS was talking about. I like feeling the gum squish into spaces in my teeth that have never been there before, kind of like getting squishy mud between your bare toes. I just avoid the hooks and my molar brackets for the most part.

I'm lucky? as I am not a fan of apples, carrots or corn on the cob, or most sticky sweets, so it is easy to stay away from most of the bad braces food. I did eat pizza last night, crust and all. I just ate it with a fork and knife, which I don't normally do unless it was a really deep dish chicago style pizza. I do crave chips and nachos, which I avoid for the most part. When I eat them, I eat them slowly and in smaller pieces. The melted cheese does soften up the tortilla chips, which helps. Okay, now I am hungry...

I want a carmel apple. I really thought I might get lucky and have these things off by Halloween, which is the best time to make yummy Carmel apples with my girls. We'll see what the ortho says...maybe I'll make the apples for Christmas.

bookfairy wrote:I chew gum but not often, I eat nuts sometimes but very carefully, I eat cooked not raw carrots...*knocks on wood* nothing happened so far!

The only thing I am afraid of now but looking very forward to eating again is caramel.
I also don't bite into thick things, like a thick sandwich or a burger; if I have to, I go in from the side, somehow I think it's safer that with front teeth, lol

I ate a piece of caramel candy like the 4thdays after braced. It went ok as long as you keep it in the middle of the mouth and use only your tongue and not move it buccally or toward the cheek where the wires and brackets are. It's really hard to resist not doing that though. In the end, I think I couldn't keep it in the middle of the mouth anymore and as soon as it got to the cheek the caramel instantly tangle with the brackets and wires and the fun was over. At least with caramel, it will eventually get broken down anyway. So now I will stick to chocolate without caramel and let it melt in the middle of the mouth instead of moving it around.

Ate some triscuit for the first time today. I broke the chips down into smaller bits and chew slowly using the molars. Seems to work ok. Probably will eat some more very carefully.

I think the key is just to not chew or bite down hard on anything.