Coffee and Braces
“Even bad coffee is better than no coffee at all.”David Lynch said this statement, and it’s true, but can you drink coffee with braces? Drinking a cup of coffee is necessary for many people, especially in the morning.
If you are a coffee lover and have braces, keep reading this article to find out the answer in the next section about braces and coffee. Therefore scroll down to explore more.
Can You Drink Coffee With Braces?
As you know, Braces are dental appliances that help to correct problems with your teeth, for example, crooked or teeth that are out of alignment. They play a major part in aligning and straightening the teeth as you wear them.
However, many people wear braces but don’t know what drinks to take. If you are one of them, don’t panic because this article provides all the information you need about coffee and braces.
Additionally, if you love coffee with braces, whether ceramic, traditional, clear, or metal, cleaning your teeth may sometimes be a concern and overwhelming. After all, you wouldn’t want to spend money on teeth straightening just to end up with teeth that have stains due to poor maintenance. Keep on reading to learn more.
Coffee and Traditional Braces
If you are among the people who chose traditional metal or ceramic braces, maintenance will be significantly more difficult but still possible. Nevertheless, if you continue drinking coffee, red wine, soda, tea, or any other dark-colored beverage, you must always learn to maintain your teeth hygiene.
The brackets on your braces and your teeth are both prone to discoloration. To reduce the likelihood of staining, you should always consume dark-colored liquids with a straw. If using a straw is not an option, brush your teeth immediately, and rinse them with water or mouthwash.
Invisalign and Coffee
Maintaining your morning habits after consuming coffee will be simple if you wear Invisalign. You can easily remove the Invisalign before eating and drinking. You only have to worry about brushing your teeth before putting the aligners back in.
While you can take your drinks wearing Invisalign trays in your mouth, hot liquids like soup, coffee, and tea might cause the plastic trays to stretch. Before drinking or eating anything hot, you should consider being safe and take the trays out.
The Invisalign trays should always fit to achieve the best results; otherwise, you risk delaying straightening your teeth but is coffee bad for braces? Coffee can leave stains on your trays, undermining the purpose of having clear braces.
You should always learn to maintain your Invisalign trays. Forest Hills Orthodontists recommend drinking iced coffee or iced tea with a straw if you find yourself in a scenario where you are unable to remove your trays.
Drinks to Avoid With Braces
It can be daunting to figure out the kind of drinks to avoid when wearing braces. The most difficult part is giving up favorite foods and beverages because of the braces.
When wearing braces, there are some beverages that you should avoid. Sugary drinks like sports drinks and soda might weaken your teeth and damage your braces. Tea and coffee can cause demineralization and permanent stains. Keep on reading to get tips on drinks to avoid with braces.
Tea and Coffee
Can you drink tea with braces? The answer is that tea and coffee are two beverages with pigment.
Furthermore, tea and coffee can potentially stain your teeth and the brackets on your braces. Normally, the stains on your teeth may result in demineralization, which eventually causes decay.
If you get stains on your teeth, you should consider taking over-the-counter whitening strips. The best course of action is to limit the consumption of tea and coffee.
Soda
First, some drinks are not good for your health whether you have braces or not, and soda is one of them, but can you have soda with braces? Soda’s fizz and carbonation indicate how acidic these kinds of beverages are. You can get tooth decay from the acid in the soda, which can damage the enamel of your teeth.
If you decide to drink soda while wearing the braces on a rare occasion, as you had read at the beginning of this article, it is advisable to use a straw and cleans your mouth with water.
Sports Drinks
Sports drinks have a high amount of sugar. Excessive consumption of sports drinks might result in weak structures of the teeth. They usually contain fruit juices, which are naturally acidic and high in sucrose, the sugar that causes decay frequently.
An example of a sports drink is Gatorade, the most common sports drink that helps keep the body hydrated and provides the body with energy. Can you drink Gatorade with braces? The answer is yes, but you should not consume it daily because it can cause stains on your braces and damage your tooth’s enamel.
On the contrary, lemon-flavored sports drinks should also be completely cut off from your diet because they disintegrate the surface of the enamel if they frequently touch the teeth for long periods.
Beer
Consumption of beer can stain your braces. As you have learned, any beverage with a lot of sugar and acid content can eventually discolor your braces or teeth, turning them yellow or brown.
If you drink beer in moderation and brush your teeth thoroughly afterward, you shouldn’t experience any stains. When you brush your teeth after consuming beer or alcohol, always transfer your braces to prevent the beer carbohydrates and acid from staining the braces.
Foods to Avoid With Braces
After getting the braces immediately, it is important to be aware of the foods to avoid while wearing them. However, with braces, you can eat a lot of different foods. Some “safe foods” might not be the best in the first few weeks after installation of the braces because they can irritate your mouth and increase sensitivity and pressure.
The following is a list of foods that you should avoid eating with braces:
- Citrus foods
- Thick cuts of meat
- Ice cream
- Spicy food
- Thicker rolls of bread
What CAN You Drink With Braces
Now that you have braces, you cannot use the beverages you were consuming before because they can directly harm the brackets and wires of your new braces. Here is a list of drinks that you may consume while wearing them to make your life easier:
- Smoothies
- Milk products
- Low sugar drinks
- Still water
Foods to Eat With Braces
After learning what drinks to consume with braces, keep scrolling to know what foods to eat with the same appliances. While getting braces doesn’t hurt, the days after your appointment, your mouth could feel sensitive. As a result, consuming meals with harder textures may hurt.
Your orthodontist will probably advise you to limit your diet to soft foods for the first few days because you will also need a new way of chewing food.
Here are some of the best foods to eat with your braces; they include:
- Pasta
- Soft or cooked vegetables
- Soups
- Scramble eggs
- Seafood
- Oatmeal
- Mashed potatoes
- Grains
- Moist desserts
How to Clean Your Braces
Sometimes food can get stuck in the appliance making it hard to clean the traditional braces. The good news is that you just need to adjust your regular brushing procedure.
Below is a procedure on how to clean your braces:
- Use water or mouthwash to get rid of the leftovers on your teeth.
- Next, carefully brush your teeth in a circular motion around the wires and the brackets, and hold your brush at a 45-degree angle.
- Give each tooth 30 seconds in each part of your mouth. Clean the front, back, and top to fully clean each tooth.
- To fully clean each tooth, be careful to brush it from top to bottom.
Final Words
With all the details from this article, you can conclude that braces play a major part in correcting oral health issues. All you need to do is avoid foods that can damage them and maintain oral hygiene.