Sticky and hard foods are things that you need to avoid once you get teeth straightening treatment. Not only do they impede the repair and realigning process of your teeth, but they may also potentially damage your teeth’s inner mechanism. While the list of things you should not chew and eat is long, chewing gum is the one thing that stands out, thanks to its availability and relative popularity.
The Dangers of Gum
While harder food items can physically knock off and break the brackets off your braces, chewing gum bends the wires. Normally, the wires of the braces are straight to align your teeth perfectly. Constantly chewing gum bends these wires, and since your teeth follow the contours and shape of the braces, it will follow where the wire bends. If you keep chewing gum while you have braces on, it does the exact opposite of correcting your teeth, making it even worse, and potentially lengthening the time of your treatment.
Pain is something you will also experience when you constantly chew gum while you have braces on. Your teeth extend far below into your gums, and are firmly rooted within the bone. When you chew gum, the wire bends in unusual positions, which in turn causes your teeth to move around in its place. Within your gums, its roots will also start to move around, which can be quite painful and may even cause your gums to bleed.
Plaque Risk
The movement of your teeth into different and unusual directions may also cause holes and spaces between your teeth to form. Not only is this counterproductive to what your braces are trying to achieve, but you are also placing yourself at a greater risk of accumulating plaque. This colourless film of bacterial waste settles between the spaces and gaps of your teeth, and due to its acidic nature, it breaks down the enamel of your teeth. If left unattended, it may even turn into a more serious gum disease.
Our team at Weybridge Orthodontics understands how dangerous a little bit of gum can be when you have braces. Visit our website at www.surreybraces.co.uk for more information about our orthodontic treatments like Invisalign and Incognito. Arrange a consultation with us today.