The ultimate handheld food, burritos beat out pizza and pies as a filling and tasty snack you can eat one-handed. But with all the metal and wire in your mouth, is eating a burrito with braces still possible?
Can You Eat Burritos With Braces?
Eating burritos with braces can be done, but it’s going to be a challenge. The whole point of a burrito is that you bite off a mouthful with your front teeth, without needing a knife and fork to cut it up. Now you have braces on, biting with your front teeth becomes a lot harder and could lead to broken wires or loose brackets.
Burritos come with a soft tortilla wrap and usually contain soft, easily chewable foods like some slow-cooked meated, veg, rice, and guacamole. On their own, all of these things are easy to eat while you are wearing braces.
Now they’re all wrapped up together it’s going to be harder to eat a burrito with braces. While it’s all soft, biting off a big mouthful can lead to everything getting jammed up together and creating force on your braces. The wires of your braces can get bent with enough pressure – which means misaligned teeth. You could also loosen a bracket, meaning another annoying visit to your ortho.
Cutting the burrito with your front teeth means lots of pressure on the wires. It also leads to foods jammed into all the crevices, leaving a not-so-good look and the need to rinse and brush immediately. It’s definitely possible to bite into a burrito but we’d try to avoid it.
Can You Eat Burritos With Bite Turbos/Bite Blockers?
If you’ve also got bite turbos – also known as bite blockers – attached to the back of your front teeth, eating burritos with braces is going to be very hard. Biting into anything with the front teeth while wearing bite turbos becomes an uncomfortable affair, so we’d advise avoiding burritos altogether.
How To Eat Burritos With Braces?
Eating Burritos With Braces Tip # 1
The best way to eat a burrito with braces is to cut it up with a knife and fork, then place the food onto the back teeth where you can chew safely. If you have a big enough mouth and a small burrito (do these even exist?) you might be able to get away with jamming it to the back of your mouth to bite.
Yes, eating a burrito with a knife and fork defeats the whole purpose of a burrito. It’s also pretty annoying to cut a soft burrito with a knife and fork. However, it’s still a tasty burrito and you should get to enjoy it!
Eating Burritos With Braces Tip # 2
After eating, rinse your mouth with water immediately to clear debris, then brush and floss 30 to 60 minutes later. A water flosser is a great tool for stubborn food bits. This goes for all food eaten while you have braces and stops bits from getting trapped next to your teeth that can end up leading to plaque and cavities.
Can You Eat Wraps With Braces?
Just like burritos, any style of wrap can be a challenge with braces. They’re best avoided, try to eat the things you might get in a wrap in a bowl instead so you can put the mouthfuls to your back teeth. If you do, bite slowly and move the food to your back, chewing teeth away from your expensive braces.
Can You Eat Quesadillas With Braces?
Eating quesadillas with braces is possible but still pretty hard to do. You still need to use those front teeth to cut – though it’s possible by being careful. Quesadillas are a little easier to cut and eat than tortillas though, so try this instead.
Can You Eat Rice With Braces?
Yes, eating rice is easy with braces, and rice in burritos is fine. It’s soft and easy to chew but does tend to get stuck in braces pretty easily. As ever, rinse using water to get out the bits. A water flosser is a real help with rice stuck in braces.
Can You Eat Tacos With Braces?
Tacos either means a dish of small, soft tortillas topped with a variety of meat, beans, cheese, and sauces, or the Americanised version which refers to hard taco shells. Both can be eaten with braces with varying success.
Eating traditional tacos with braces is fairly easy, but you’ll probably have to break the taco up and put the food to the back of your mouth. This avoids tearing using the front teeth which can bend wires and break brackets.
Hardshell tacos are actually the same small tortillas that are hung and baked (sometimes fried) into the “U” shape for loading food into. Eating hard foods is generally a no-no and hard food makes our list of food to avoid with braces.
However, taco shells are pretty thin and break easily. You won’t use too much force to break them but they will be a little awkward to eat with braces – trust us we’ve tried. Instead, you should try to opt for something softer.
Can You Eat Tortilla Chips With Braces?
We love tortilla chips and eat them as much as possible. However, you should try to avoid eating tortilla chips with braces for the same reason as avoiding hard taco shells. The force need to bite into them can lead to bent wires and broken brackets.
If you really need to eat tortilla chips – and we have done with braces – then try to load them up and eat with the further back teeth instead of the front. Also, take it easy and chew slower. It definitely looks a little awkward but it lessens the likelihood of causing problems with your braces.
Can You Eat Taco Bell With Braces?
You can eat Taco Bell with braces but there are good and bad options to choose from. Avoid the crunchy, hard, big-bite stuff like burritos and crunchy tacos, instead go for smaller soft tacos, chalupas, or the bowls. Bowls are the best, with soft beans and rice being super healthy and braces-safe choices.
Can You Eat Tortillas With Braces?
Yes, tortillas are a nice, soft food that can be eaten easily and safely with braces. Try not to tear them with your front teeth, and instead tear them in your hand to scoop up food with, then place itin the back of your mouth.
You can get flour, corn, and maize tortillas, cactus or “nopal” tortillas, even beetroot-dyed and blue ones. All are decently soft and pretty easy to tear and chew while you are wearing braces. Burritos, tacos, and all Mexican-style food that uses tortillas can use any of these types of tortillas.
You might have a deconstructed burrito with the large tortilla on the side or just a typical Mexican mix-up of different dishes that come with smaller “taco” style soft tortillas on the side. Huevos rancheros is a classic dish like this.
Other to-go-style foods that are great for braces are sushi, toast, and noodles.