Tooth Friendly Foods
Tooth friendly foods are those without added sugar. Items such as cheese, eggs, fish, meat, bread, unsweetened cereal and fruit juice and artificially sweetened yoghurts. Try and replace sugary foods with these wherever possible. These foods are nutritious and contain fewer calories than foods with added sugar and are a welcome addition to any diet.
Foods that are Culprits
All foods with sugar are the culprits. For example, cakes, sweet biscuits, sweetened cereal, soft drinks, cordial, sweetened fruit juice and tea and coffee with sugar.Remember to read labels on food, as there are lots of foods with hidden sugars and choose foods with no added sugar.
Remember
When you have orthodontic appliances, you also need to think about breakages and what foods are better than others to be eating.Avoid eating hard or sticky foods (eg: caramels, boiled lollies, minties etc). Biting fingernails, pens and pencils may also cause breakages.Soft drinks, sports drinks, juices and other acidic drinks should be kept to a minimum, as the acid present in these drinks causes the cement bond on the molar bands to break down and is also damaging to the tooth enamel.Whole fruits, vegetables, meat, pizza and hard crusts should be sliced into smaller pieces and eaten carefully.