Almonds are normally a great snack – tasty and nutritious, being full of protein, fiber, and healthy fat. However, eating almonds with braces is unfortunately a different story,
Can You Eat Almonds With Braces?
No, you shouldn’t eat almonds with braces on. Almonds – while super healthy – are very hard and need to be broken with your teeth before swallowing. Biting down on hard things with braces is a big no.
What Happens If You Eat Almonds With Braces?
Eating almonds with braces could lead to a broken bracket, which means another visit to your orthodontist and a longer time in braces! This happens when you bite down with your teeth, but the hard almond is actually pushing against the bracket.
If you force the bite hard enough it will pop the bracket off from force alone! Humans on average can exert 162 psi of force, and the enamel of our teeth is the strongest part of our body. That means it’s actually pretty easy to break a bracket off if you’re using the force of your own mouth.
If you do manage to eat almonds without breaking or loosening a bracket, the shards of almonds get stuck in the teeth pretty easily and can be very hard to clean. In fact, this goes for nearly all nuts. We don’t recommend eating whole nuts while in braces at all.
Can You Eat Candied Almonds With Braces?
The same advice as above applies here – you shouldn’t eat candied almonds with braces. The almonds are just as hard – if not hardier from the candying process. You also have the added sugar which can be hard to clean
Can You Eat Nuts With Braces?
No, you shouldn’t eat any type of nuts with braces. All nuts are hard and need breaking up with your teeth, meaning a lot of force pushing down that could end up breaking brackets off of your braces. It’s a shame because nuts are a great, healthy snack but they’re a prime candidate for causing problems with braces.
Can You Eat Chopped Almonds With Braces?
Chopped almonds are a different story! Chopped and crushed almonds are easier to eat with braces as they only need a light amount of chewing with the back teeth. These are normally brace-free and you can chew properly without risking a broken bracket.
However, chopped and ground almonds can still get stuck in the hard-to-reach areas of braces quite easily. You’ll need to rinse with water or mouth wash to remove these bits and brush later on to make sure there are no traces left. A water flosser is a great tool for removing food debris from braces.
Can You Drink Almond Milk With Braces?
Yes! Almond milk is safe to drink with braces. In fact, all types of milk are pretty much fine to drink with braces. Regular cows milk, almond milk, soy milk, oat, coconut, and even potato milk are all good, nutritional drinks for those wearing braces.
Stay away from milk that had had extra sugar added, as well as chocolate milk and similar sugary drinks. These aren’t really milk, instead they’re drinks that use milk to deliver a load of sugar but are still called milk to suggest they’re still healthy.
Can You Eat Almond Butter With Braces?
Almond butter is a popular alternative to peanut butter that’s supposedly more healthy. However, eating almond butter with braces isn’t something we’d advise. Nut butters like almond butter can stick to braces quite easily and can loosen brackets, as well as get the sugary butter stuck in teeth and hard to clean off.
We were always a big fan of peanut and almond butter so this has been a problem for us too. It’s possible to get away with eating a lightly-spread nut butter on some food without causing too many problems. Go for smooth almond butter and remember to use a water flosser or rinse thoroughly with water after eating, then brushing your teeth 30 to 60 minutes later – as always.
