Activities to Avoid While Wearing Dental Braces

As your child wears their orthodontic braces for a long enough time, you’ll start to realize what they can and can’t do while wearing them. Until then, your child’s orthodontist will provide you with a list of things your child should avoid while wearing dental braces. These precautions are meant to prevent damage to the orthodontic braces which can cause pain to your child.

Activities to Avoid with Braces

Below are a few things your child should avoid doing while wearing his or her braces:

1. Chew Ice – Even without dental braces, chewing on ice is a bad idea. However, during orthodontic treatment, chewing ice can cause a myriad of problems for your child’s braces. Damage done to dental equipment can be painful and expensive to fix, so it’s best to avoid the damage altogether.
2. Chew Gum – Any sticky substances will pull on your child’s braces, brackets, wires, and bands. This stress on the orthodontic hardware could cause the braces to break. Gum is the worst culprit, but your child should avoid anything sticky.
3. Drink Soda – Any beverages that are too sugary will do damage to your child’s braces, but that goes double for soda. This is because the acids in the carbonation can dissolve the glue that holds orthodontic brackets to the teeth, causing them to come loose or break off altogether.
4. Skip Floss – We know that dental braces create a few extra steps in the flossing process, which can be a pain. But if your child skips the floss during orthodontic treatment, he or she could end up with dental cavities or tooth decay.

Your child should still be visiting their dentist every six months, even during orthodontic treatment. To make an appointment for your kids to have a dental cleaning and a checkup today, please contact Piedmont Pediatric Dentistry located here in Greensboro, NC.