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I tried salad the day after I was braced. Bad, bad, bad idea. I have an anterior open bite, so I can only chew thin pieces of food with my back molars, but my teeth (except for my back 4 molars which are not braced) are so gosh darn sensitive right now that anything that requires major chewing like salad is too challenging for me to handle right now. I ended up chewing with those unbraced molars only and was that a nightmare!
I love salads, so I'm a bit bummed out, but I like V8 V-fusion juice and cooked veggies too, so I still get my nutrition that way.
I, like Kirsten and Miss Smiley also chew my food like an ogre (can we say Shrek anyone???) and didn't realize how crude I was until I had to have good manners when my husband and I went out to dinner with some friends the other night. That was a lot of work to remember my manners and get my ravioli down too! I'm sure I made quite the sight.
If you want easy-to-eat salad, one option is the tomato salad, peeling the skin off (like a potato, don't bother with the boil-and-peal technique) and removing the seedy part inside (so you end up only eating the fleshy enveloppe). you can add finely chopped basil or parsley if you want some strong "greeny" taste with it.
I miss salads more than anything. They are the most difficult thing to eat. I think it is because the lettuce is harder in some places than other and also stringy and chewy. Unlike an m&m which melts in your mouth, not in your hands
I didn't attempt salad for probably the first week as things were a bit tender...but beyond that I've been having salad regularly...I have changed a bit what I put in my salad though...raw cauliflower is a royal pain to get out of brackets, so I'll return to that once I'm done with treatment.
I could only have imagined the difficulty of eating salad with braces until I tried it today. I just finished, as a matter of fact. It took me an entire hour and I've got bits of lettuce stuck all over my brackets, but it was SO yummy !!!!! I'll go clean myself up in a moment. I think I could put up with this every other day.
Nov 1960: born
1973 ?: palate expander
1973-1977: braces
Aug 1981: Le Fort I, posterior impaction to correct anterior open bite and class II malocclusion
Aug 2007: braces again to correct various alignment issues and class II malocclusion
Hi there I soooooooooooo miss my Spicy Thai Salads, with peanuts!!!! and any salad I do eat now I have to THINLY SLICE so I can basicall swallow it with not alot of CHEWING invloved, for my teeth haven't met for a verrrrrrry long time!!!! Hard to believe that you can miss certain foods or certain feelings of food, LIKE CRUNCHY FOOOD!!!!!!!! OOOh when my teeth aren't hurting I sooooooooooo get anything crunchy that I can eat when I can!!!!!
i was not able to eat salad at the very begining of my treatment due to my back teeth not hitting. However I'm now able to eat and enjoy salads. I just have to do a quick mirror check to make sure I dont have any greens in my teeth.
Got my braces off 9/20/07 after 19 months and 3 weeks. WOOOOOOHOOOOO!!
Kirsten wrote:What I miss is being able to eat salad without looking like a goblin. I'm sure my husband really likes how I have to chew with my mouth wide open, since I want to chew with my very back teeth. I haven't mastered eating with manners yet
Yeah I'm kinda the same. I miss being able to eat it properly!!
Although to be honest its not much off a loss to me, I find salad quite boring!!
I still eat almost everything I ate before I got braces (oh, s'mores, how I miss them), but it's HOW I eat them that kills me. My sister (who I live with) tries to let it go, but even she sometimes says "Seriously, did you forget how to chew with your mouth closed?" I NEVER did that before braces.
I still eat sushi and salads all the time, it just takes a thousand years to get rid of it all after I'm done.
Still, most of the time it's worth it (especially when it comes to sushi).
I'm sure I made quite the sight. 
I just finished, as a matter of fact. It took me an entire hour and I've got bits of lettuce stuck all over my brackets, but it was SO yummy !!!!! I'll go clean myself up in a moment. I think I could put up with this every other day.
