We are in the Christmas Holiday season! Christmas lights are up, kids will be getting time off from school soon and are making their wish lists, your decorating your home, and getting ready for all sorts of fun activities for the family.
We will quickly talk about the foods that aren’t safe for braces so we can get on with the fun food and activities!
Foods to Avoid
Candy Canes – Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without candy canes hanging on the Christmas tree. However, candy canes and other hard candies are not safe to eat if you have braces. If you love peppermint, you can have peppermint marshmallows and soft peppermint candies such as “Bob’s Soft Peppermint Candies.”
Sticky Treats – If you have braces, avoid anything with nuts or caramel, such as caramel apples, pecan pie, hard candy, peanut brittle, or caramel apples. These treats can cause damage to braces. Even if you wear Invisalign®, these types of candy can easily get trapped under the clear aligners, creating the perfect environment for cavities.
Nuts: Peanuts, cashews, almonds, and walnuts are hard and can damage your braces, but they can also become stuck around your braces. Almonds, peanuts, and pecans are also frequently found in holiday foods, such as peanut brittle, pecan pie, and brownies. So, watch out for these in desserts as well.
Gingerbread – Your family may have a tradition of making gingerbread houses. You can enjoy the fun of creating one, but the gingerbread typically dries out and becomes too hard to chew safely with braces. You can enjoy soft gingerbread cookies as an alternative.
Foods You Can Enjoy with Braces
Hot Chocolate – You can still enjoy hot chocolate with braces. And even better, you can add toppings like marshmallows, whipped cream, or chocolate shavings. You can dip cookies in your hot chocolate to make them soft enough to eat with braces.
Dinner Feasts – You can still enjoy most Christmas dishes with your braces, such as tender turkey, ham, beef, or fish. Avoid chewing meat still on the bone because you don’t want to bite down hard on a bone with braces accidentally.
Side Dishes: There are lots of sides you can eat. You can load up on mashed potatoes, gravy, dinner rolls, and mac n’ cheese. And don’t be shy about eating soft veggies like creamed spinach, peas, or cooked string beans.
Desserts – you can still have cookies, brownies, cakes, and other soft treats fresh from the oven! Soft-filled pies such as pumpkin, apple, cherry, or cream are great. And, of course, you can have your pie served with ice cream!
December Fun
While eating yummy food is fun, you can do lots of other fun things in our area in Murry, Utah. If you are not sure what you might like to do, we have listed a few activities below:
Annual Crazy Daisy Christmas Show, December 9
A Christmas Dream at the Ballet Center, December 13
Forgotten Carols at Cottonwood High School, December 14-17
For details, check out the calendar for Murray, Utah.
You can also check out Holiday Events in SLC.
Final Words
You don’t have to worry about celebrating the festivities this Christmas because there are lots of fun foods you can eat and fun events you can enjoy with your family. And remember, you won’t be wearing braces forever – before you know it, you’ll get your braces off and have a beautiful, fantastic, and healthy smile. So, enjoy your Christmas with all the fun braces-friendly foods and activities that you enjoy!
Our Warmest Holiday Wishes to You!
Dr. David McDonough & Team