Welcome to the orthodontic practice of Dr. Diane Doppel. Serving Seattle, WA (Washington) and the surrounding greater Puget Sound area- Dr. Diane Doppel is your orthodontic specialist, offering Invisalign® and In-ovation® braces for children, teens, and adults.

Eating with Braces

What can you eat? Let's talk about what you shouldn't eat! If you've wanted to drop a few pounds, the first week wearing braces is just your chance! For the first day or so, stick to soft foods. Avoid tough meats, hard breads, and raw vegetables. Before long, you'll be able to bite a cucumber again. But you'll need to protect your orthodontic appliances when you eat for as long as you're wearing braces.

Foods to Avoid

• Chewy foods: bagels, hard rolls, licorice
• Crunchy foods: popcorn, ice, chips
• Sticky foods: caramels, gum
• Hard foods: nuts, candy
• Foods you have to bite into: corn on the cob, apples, carrots
• Chewing on hard things (for example, pens, pencils or fingernails) can damage the braces. Damaged braces will cause treatment to take longer.

General Soreness

When you get your braces on, you may feel general soreness in your mouth. This can be relieved by rinsing your mouth with a warm saltwater mouthwash. Dissolve one teaspoonful of salt in 8 ounces of warm water, and rinse your mouth vigorously. Teeth may be tender to biting pressures for three to five days. If the tenderness is severe, take whatever you normally take for headache or similar pain. The lips, cheeks and tongue may also become irritated for one to two weeks as they toughen and become accustomed to the surface of the braces. You can put wax on the braces to lessen this. We'll show you how!

Loosening of Teeth

This is to be expected throughout treatment. Don't worry! It's normal. Teeth must loosen first so they can be moved. The teeth will again become rigidly fixed in their new – corrected – positions.

Loose Wire or Band

Don't be alarmed if a wire or band comes loose. This happens occasionally. If wire protrudes and is irritating, use a blunt instrument (back of a spoon or the eraser end of a pencil) and carefully, gently push the irritating wire under the archwire. Simply get it out of the way. If irritation to the lips or mouth continues, place wax or wet cotton on the wire to reduce the annoyance. Call our office as soon as possible for an appointment to check and repair the appliances. If any piece comes off, save it and bring it with you to the office.

Care of Appliances

To successfully complete the treatment plan, the patient must work together with the orthodontist. The teeth and jaws can only move toward their corrected positions if the patient consistently wears the rubber bands, headgear or other appliances as prescribed. Damaged appliances lengthen the treatment time.

Brushing

It's more important than ever to brush and floss regularly when you have braces, so the teeth and gums are healthy after orthodontic treatment. Patients who do not keep their teeth clean may require more frequent visits to the dentist for a professional cleaning. Adults who have a history of gum disease should also see a periodontist during orthodontic treatment.

Diet ideas for sore teeth

Proteins

• Add cubes of cheddar cheese to bouillon or other hot soups. The cheese will melt so that it is easy to eat. Processed cheese works too, but it may turn the soup milky.
• Float several spoonfuls of cottage cheese in hot tomato soup.
• Add a well-beaten egg to boiling chicken bouillon. Skim off the foam. It tastes like Chinese restaurant egg flower soup.
• Scrambled eggs.
• Scrambled hamburger. Cook hamburger slowly over medium heat, stirring often to break it up into tiny pieces. Do not let the meat get too crispy.
• Sloppy Joes — always easy!
• Cheese soufflé. Try one! Even if it falls it still tastes great.
• Use a meat grinder, if you have one, for other meats. Add a little gravy, sauce or salad dressing.

Fruits

Fruit juices, one of the great joys of the orthodontic patient! How about a section in the freezer just for the one with the glistening smile? A variety of the little frozen juice cans: tangerine, nectarine, apple, grape, pineapple or grapefruit, will add interest and provide pleasure. Fresh fruits, so essential to good digestive habits, are great in the blender. Try this:

• Fresh, uncooked applesauce. Peel apples, cut into chunks, put in the blender with a little sugar and a dash of cinnamon.
• Fresh pineapple or watermelon, cantaloupe, peaches, apricots, oranges — a mixture to create a South Pacific delight! A banana in the blender leaves something to be desired, so add that to a milkshake.

Frequently it is uncomfortable to bite or chew something very cold. So take one cantaloupe or grapefruit out of the refrigerator the night before, in order to have it at room temperature when it touches those sensitive teeth at breakfast.

Vegetables

Sometimes cooked vegetables are easily eaten, but you may want to mash them up further with a fork. Salads are a real problem. Forget that idea about tearing up lettuce by hand, and go ahead and chop it finely with a knife. Tomatoes, creamed spinach, cooked squash and cauliflower are a little easier to eat than some other vegetables. When all else fails, remember the mashed potatoes and all your "a la king" recipes that go with them. Creamed tuna on mashed potatoes for dinner on the day after the orthodontic appointment will save you from imminent starvation.

Milk

The greatest, softest food ever invented. Milk: plain, flavored, in hot chocolate, milkshakes, cottage cheese, ice cream.

Lunches

We all know that whole wheat bread, bursting with those crunchy little kernels of grain are so nutritious. But just for a couple of days when eating hurts, break down and get some nice white bread. Deviled egg, deviled ham, tuna, chopped olive and sandwich spreads will probably not cause too much discomfort. Avoid bologna, lettuce, hard cheese, salami, roast beef or anything that really has to be chewed thoroughly.

Hot soup can be a lifesaver, and why not include a grilled cheese sandwich that can be dunked in the soup? Lots of bicycle knapsacks can easily hold a Thermos.

Canned snack containers with gelatin, puddings or soft canned fruits are a great invention. And applesauce has sustained many an orthodontic patient.