A lot of patients and parents ask us - "what can you eat with braces"? Often they ask what shouldn't they eat with braces.
My answer is: you shouldn't eat anything bigger than your head with braces. Now this is more of a human limitation than a brace thing.
Eating with braces is not the same as eating before your braces. And with straight teeth, eating is going to be easier and more comfortable than with crooked teeth.
Until then, with your braces, you do need to eat differently. Braces are stuck to your teeth with a strong glue, but they are designed to come off your teeth with the right kind of pressure that will not hurt you or your tooth. With eating you want to avoid that pressure.
Keep the pressure on your teeth and not on your braces to avoid breaking braces. You can eat almost anything with braces as long as you avoid the pressure on the brace itself. To do that, eat more slowly until the food has softened up, chewer smaller pieces so the food is between your teeth and away from the braces, and move toward softer foods when possible.
You can eat popcorn, potato chips, and even a granola bar if you are careful. Chew slowly with small pieces until the food has softened up. Chewing gum is fine, but go slowly until the gum is softer and a smaller piece of gum will be safer. But remember - nothing bigger than your head.