Christmas In Braces

Everyday life is somewhat nuanced and complicated when orthodontics are introduced into the equation. This is no different during the holidays, and some holidays require special attention to the braces, as they may involve foods that are sticky, hard, filled with nuts, or otherwise harmful to the braces. Christmas is one of those holidays.

Christmas Foods To Avoid

Christmas foods vary from country to country, but almost all variations are if not outright bad for your braces, at the very least requiring some degree of circumspection. Traditionally many involve gooey sweets, and of course nuts galore, as traditionally nuts played a very important part in European winter cuisine, moreso the farther North you go. Nuts are hard, so they can dislodge brackets and damage the wires, not to mention that the small particles can get stuck in the nooks and crannies between the teeth and the braces, or even damage the surface of a tooth.

Gooey fruit pastes and fruit breads are also to be avoided, a certain hazard, and holiday toffee is also a no no.

Many Eastern European Christmas diners involve soups and cooked cabbage, which is not dangerous at all. Just make sure that the cabbage is properly cooked, otherwise there may be some fibers that can get stuck in the apparatus which may be complicated to get it out; endeavours to that end may dislodge a bracket or two, or bend the wire.

Temperature

When it is cold outside, it can feel really nice to drink something toasty warm, but beware! Your braces are made out of metal, thus are affected by changes in temperature. Metals expand a little bit from heat, and contract when it is cold. This is why when you go outside the cold can make the wires shorten, and this will exert force and pressure on your teeth, pulling them together a little bit. It is also possible, but very unlikely, that a sudden change in temperature can damage your braces. At any rate, even if they do not get damaged, constant shrinking and expanding of the wires is not good for them, and they may become less able to fulfill their function, which means that the treatment time may be longer. In order to avoid this, simply wait a few minutes for your braces to warm up before taking that first sip of hot cocoa.

The third no-no is opening presents with your teeth. This can damage your teeth, your braces, and your periodontium. Scissors, my friends, scissors.

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