Now that you have our braces on, you must be much more careful about what you eat than ever before. Hard and sticky foods, for instance, can do a lot of damage to your braces.

Hard foods such as carrot sticks or ice will bend the wires and loosen the cement under the brackets and bands.

Sticky foods such as taffy and caramels will pull the appliances loose and bend wires.

Any time you bend a wire or loosen a band, your treatment will slow down and you will prolong the time that you must keep your braces on. Also, if you are very careless and have excessive broken appliances, you will be charged for replacement parts.

Another potential problem is food with high sugar content. This includes soft drinks, most desserts, and all types of candy and gum (except sugarless). If you eat any of these, do so at the end of a meal, and brush your teeth immediately after. If you drink soft drinks between meals, brush your teeth after drinking.

The reason you must be so careful is that the sugar in sweet foods will collect around the edges of your braces and form plaque. If this plaque is not removed soon, it will cause permanent white decalcification lines on your teeth. It may even cause cavities.

So avoid sweet, sticky or hard foods as much as possible.

REMEMBER, NEVER CHEW: