Can You Eat Ice Cream With Braces? Yes!

can you eat ice cream with braces

Here is everything you need to know about ice cream consumption while wearing braces. Additionally, you can discover which ice creams are the best and worst for people who are wearing braces.

Being told you can’t eat certain comfort foods when you first begin your orthodontic treatment can be very discouraging. Having braces on may make you wonder if you can eat ice cream. Yes, it’s okay to eat ice cream while wearing braces.

However, when you first get braces on, you might feel extra sensitivity in your teeth; as a result, biting into cold ice cream may hurt your teeth for the first few days. Simply wait a few days if you try eating ice cream and discover that your teeth are too sensitive.

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Can You Eat Ice Cream If You Have Braces?

Of course, you can have ice cream after getting braces but the coldness is another thing; the main thing to look out for in ice cream is its ingredients.

Any nuts, candy pieces, or other additional items that may be hard or sticky can get stuck in your braces and be challenging to remove, or biting on them can cause pressure on your brackets and their wires causing them to break.

If ice cream contains nuts, candies, or any other hard object, braces and ice cream cannot coexist for very long. So, when choosing ice cream, you need to be careful. There must be no hard ingredients in any flavor you enjoy.

Tips on How to Eat Ice Cream With Braces

You can eat ice cream with braces, but here are two tips to remember:

can you eat ice cream with braces

Choose Smooth Ice Creams

Make sure you don’t pick an ice cream flavor with something hard, crunchy, or really chewy in it. Large honeycomb chunks, chunks of toffee, or chunks of caramel or toffee should not be used as toppings. Make sure these foods don’t end up in your ice cream, just as you should avoid them when wearing braces normally.

When possible, stick with smooth ice creams. Small pieces of chocolate, cookies, cookie dough, or anything else that melts in your mouth or only requires a small amount of chewing, will do.

Brush Your Teeth After Eating Ice Cream

You should try to avoid sugary foods with braces as much as possible. That won’t last forever, though, because we’re all only human. Having a bowl of ice cream occasionally isn’t too big of a deal as long as you rinse and brush soon after.

After eating, immediately rinse your mouth with water to get rid of as much sugar and food debris as you can. This avoids the accumulation of sugar near your braces and teeth, which could cause stains and cavities. This is a great place for a water flosser.

Then 30 to 60 minutes after eating ice cream, you should brush your teeth and floss. To make brushing and reaching awkward spaces easier, a good electric toothbrush and some interdental brushes are good ideas.

What Kind of Ice Cream Can I Eat With Braces?

Avoid nuts, chopped nuts, hard candies, honeycomb, and chunks of toffee or caramel. In other words, anything that requires a sizable, powerful bite that might bend a wire or loosen a bracket. Things that are extremely chewy and sticky also frequently accumulate in braces and are challenging to take out.

can you eat ice cream with braces

Best Ice Cream Flavors for Braces

  • Chocolate / Strawberry / Vanilla – All of the classics are excellent choices!
  • Neapolitan – Why not all three?
  • Mint Chocolate Chip – Totally fine, small bits of chocolate will melt as long as they aren’t massive chunks
  • Caramel – You’ll get away with little chunks, but not too much
  • Matcha Tea – Seriously, try it!
  • Banana / Mango / Coconut – Most simple fruit flavors are fine, try to avoid frozen chunks
  • Oreo Cookie – Although you could probably get away with it, the pieces will easily become stuck in your braces. Definitely give your teeth and braces a thorough rinse and clean after
  • Cookie Dough – With the chewy chunks, it’s another tricky one. It remains in the yes column because it’s my personal favorite!
  • Pistachio – A traditional gelato flavor that is perfectly acceptable with only very small pieces of chopped pistachio. Steer clear of pistachios in their whole form.

Ice Cream Flavors to Avoid With Braces

  • Toffee Chunks – Big chewy chunks get stuck in hard-to-reach places in the braces easily – avoid
  • Caramel Chunks – Big caramel chunks can get stuck, avoid gummy, chewy things when possible
  • Honeycomb – Those big blocks are really crunchy and could pop off a bracket
  • Buttered Pecan – Avoid any ice cream with full-sized nuts as nuts are bad for braces
  • Bubble Gum – If it has actual bubble gum chunks in it, stay away
  • Rocky Road – Chopped nuts and gummy marshmallows can be a problem. Try another flavor if you can

Does Ice Cream Help With Braces Pain?

can you eat ice cream with braces

Some people say that ice cream can help with braces pain because it cools down your gums when they are inflamed. Your gums may occasionally swell slightly after getting braces for the first time or after wire adjustments.

However, if you are experiencing swollen or red gums regularly you should consult your dentist to see if there are other causes like bad hygiene or gingivitis.

Cold water (don’t chew on the ice! ), rather than ice cream, can reduce gum swelling when wearing braces.) is safer as it doesn’t leave all the sugar in your mouth that ice cream will.

Because of its flexibility, the metal alloy nickel-titanium is frequently used in braces wire. Many orthodontists used heat-activated nickel-titanium wires that conform to their shape better when heated by your mouth.

The activation of the wire may, in some circumstances, be lessened by drinking or eating cold food if your braces are giving you a lot of pain. So yes, after a wire change, eating ice cream or drinking cool beverages can help relieve braces pain!

Conclusion: Enjoy Ice Cream With Braces

In conclusion, it is okay to eat ice cream while wearing braces, but we advise against it. If your ice cream has any sort of toppings, the hardness of those toppings could damage your metal braces. Also, refrain from biting into hard ice pops as they are also dangerous.

If braces are taken care of properly, they will remain in good condition and won’t stain or break. You must eat foods that are safe for your braces if you want them to function properly for the duration of your treatment.

FAQs

What Ice Cream Flavors Can You Eat With Braces?

Because it won’t break any brackets or damage your braces, plain ice cream without any toppings is the safest option to eat.

What You Cannot Eat With Braces?

  • Grass-like foods, such as licorice and bagels.
  • Ice, popcorn, and other crunchy foods.
  • Chewing gum and caramel candies are examples of sticky foods.
  • Nuts and hard candies are examples of hard foods.
  • Grass-fed beef, apples, and carrots are examples of foods that require biting into.

How Long After Braces Can I Eat Normally?

However, as you begin to adjust to the procedure, you will become more receptive to trying new foods while wearing braces. In fact, about two weeks after you start braces you will be able to eat normal foods again.

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