Metal Mouth Message Board

I am getting braces on March 4 and was wondering what some good foods for those first few days are. My thanks in advance!
From,
Soon to be a:

Nothing too special; you'll just want to avoid foods that require any sort of "biting off" and don't need too much chewing. You may want to look up smoothie and soup recipes for the first couple of days.

Spoon foods.

Ground beef, soft pastas (spaghetti was hard to eat... go for something less stringy, like ziti/penne), oatmeal, applesauce, yogurt. It's also a great excuse to eat plenty of ice cream and pudding

In the first few days, I had a hard time with even soft foods. I basically needed to stick to things that were pretty much drinkable: soups, applesauce, smoothies, shakes, pudding, then worked my way (pretty quickly) into mashed potatoes, oatmeal, etc.

Basically for the first few days, you're not going to want to do anything that forces you to compress your teeth in a chewing motion, even if the food is very soft. After that, you'll be able to do soft food that needs to be chewed some (pasta type stuff), and pretty soon after you'll be able to eat most things.

The best tip that our ortho told us when our daughter first got her braces was to give her Motrin and get a ton of food into her right away. Because in those first few hours, it's awkward to eat, but not painful. So she had a huge pasta lunch, but if I remember correctly, by dinner it was starting to catch up with her, and by the next morning she was bummed.

My ortho did top braces first and bottoms a month later (just last week!) After getting my tops installed they weren't sore at all until a few days later. I think I only had a day where my teeth felt sore.
After getting my bottoms though my lower jaw was tender for a few days. Smoothies have been a lifesaver.

I stocked up on ice cream, yogurt, and tapioca pudding. However, my favorite by far was making a root beer float. Jello topped with condensed milk is also tasty.

I definitely just stuck to soups and giant smoothies. It all depends on how painful it is for you. I had chicken noodle soup and it was hard for me to even chew the chunks of chicken that were in there so I jut kind of mushed it against the roof of my mouth to break it up. lol. But by the end of the week I was able to actually chew that which was great. At first I tried to convince myself that I could eat a bagel cut into pieces. Complete fail. I couldn't chew it at all and it made my teeth hurt even more. I don't recommend that.

Scrambled eggs, lots of soup, pasta, yogurt, oatmeal. My best advice though is get back on the horse as soon as you can. If you tough it out after about the second week, you'll be back on most foods in no time at all. I find it's far better and the discomfort goes away sooner after adjustments if I work through it and eat normally but just cut everything into much smaller pieces. Afraid to tell you sandwiches won't ever be your best friend with braces as the bread makes a real big mess in the front. If I'm in a meeting with sandwiches, I just open it up and eat the insides with a fork.

I'm a fan of the chocolate Whey Protein. This was a staple after I got my braces and I've gone back to it since I got the .020 monster wire. You can drink it with a straw and the 30 grams of protein per serving will leave you feeling full. It's thick, so I always use the blender. You could add some frozen blueberries and raspberries for more substance.

msw wrote:I'm a fan of the chocolate Whey Protein. This was a staple after I got my braces and I've gone back to it since I got the .020 monster wire. You can drink it with a straw and the 30 grams of protein per serving will leave you feeling full. It's thick, so I always use the blender. You could add some frozen blueberries and raspberries for more substance.

My parents don't let me use anything like that. My mom even gets mad at her sister for using whey protein!

If you're in the US, Naked do smoothies with protein added that are SUPER filling and may be easier to get past the parents than a giant tub of whey powder

cs2thecox wrote:If you're in the US, Naked do smoothies with protein added that are SUPER filling and may be easier to get past the parents than a giant tub of whey powder

I'm in Canada

I'm also getting braces on March 4th! I'm planning on making lots of smoothies. Also trying on eating protein rich foods so I have to eat less often. Good luck to you!

Odwalla and naked are both sold in Canada. . Boba tea is good too.