Protect Your Smile This Christmas

The Christmas holiday season is here with all its festive parties and family gatherings. One of our favorite parts of celebrating Christmas involves enjoying the wonderful foods that are unique to this holiday season. Christmas time means home-baked cookies and cakes, often filled with gooey, chewy ingredients or crunchy toffees and nuts. Who doesn’t think of candy canes and chocolate covered peppermint bark at Christmas?

This year’s Christmas celebrations will give you an opportunity to share your new smile, too. As you smile and show off those beautiful teeth, be sure to keep in mind the good health of those beautiful braces that are helping create your beautiful smile. Remember that most foods are fine to eat with your braces. Foods like puddings, ice cream, pies, and cakes are just a few holiday favorites that are A-OK! Healthy meats and vegetables that are cut into small, bite-sized pieces are also on Santa’s Good List. Be mindful that there are a few foods to avoid to protect your braces, including these categories:

1. Crunchy foods – Crusty breads (like some pizza crusts), pretzels, ice, and chips can all cause wires and brackets to break, so avoid foods that are too crunchy. 
2. Hard foods – Before you reach for the veggie plate, cut any hard vegetables into bite-sized pieces. Avoid foods like nuts, popcorn, and hard candies that can break or bend the brackets or wires. 
3. Sticky, chewy foods – Caramel, licorice, taffy, and toffee, can all pull on your brackets and cause damage. 

This Christmas is a great time to spread some love and cheer, especially with your beautiful new smile. Protect your teeth and your braces by following these simple guidelines. Enjoy the holidays and SMILE!

Merry Christmas from all the team at Kemp Orthodontics!