Can You Eat Meat With Braces?

If you’re not a vegan, there’s no way to hate eating meat. But your fondness of meat soon faces challenges as you’re having dental treatment with braces. Hence the question comes, “can you eat meat with braces?” The answer might be amusing or disappointing since we’ll elucidate the facts if you can eat meat with braces.

Don’t throw your treatment away when you’re enjoying the holidays. You can still gnash at the summertime menu across the season. But how can you eat meat if you’re wearing braces? Please stick with us to know how to eat meat and what meat to eat with braces bypassing all the risks of breaking the wires. 

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Is It Safe To Eat Meat With Braces

If you’re wearing braces, the first concern is what to eat with braces? When you’re sitting at the dining table having steaks or barbecues in front, the concern should come if meat is safe to eat with braces. The concerns are usual and should be paid with answers. You can opt for Invisalign if you want full control over your eating.

Whatever and whenever you eat something with braces, you need to maintain just a few rules of thumb. Thus you can avoid the risks of breaking or bending the wires and brackets of the braces. So what criteria should you search for in the foods?

• The foods should be soft in consistency
• They should be easy to chew
• They shouldn’t be too stringy
• They shouldn’t be crunchy
• They shouldn’t be sticky
• They shouldn’t be hard to crack
• The food pieces should be as small as possible. Big bites are prohibited.
• Liquid foods are preferred in the first few days
• The diet should cover all the proximate principles of foods. They should be nutritious.

If your meats are soft, easy to chew, not crunchy, and not sticky, it’s totally fine to nibble on the alluring pieces of meat. The consistency of meat depends on the cooking style. You can easily achieve the food types mentioned earlier by instilling the right recipes and cooking styles.

And then, the meat will be perfectly fine to eat with braces. They won’t bend the brackets as they’re not hard or crunchy. They won’t delay the treatment as they’re not sticky. And you don’t need to go cold turkey about meats as you can have them in such ways.

Here we’ll introduce you to some of the best recipes and cooking styles to prepare your desired meat to eat with braces. And we’ll also include what meat you need to cut out from your diet. 

What Meat Can You Eat With Braces

Eating meat itself ain’t a problem. There are plenty of ways to prepare foods that line with your dental treatments. We’ve included the safest meats here you can eat with braces. You don’t need to ask anymore, reiterating what meat can I eat with braces? However, always try to eat meat in small bites though soft and easy to chew. Chowing down on meat has never been a good option with braces.

Roasted or grilled boneless chicken: We prefer boneless chicken over a tough cut of steak for our patients. You need to extract the meaty portion from the bones and then eat it. Otherwise, you run a high risk of breaking the wires. You can follow multiple cooking styles to prepare a tender and juicy chicken item. Roasting or grilling of chicken will yield the best value for you.

Beef stew: Beef stew is a good option if you have trouble eating meats with braces. The cuts are usually dense in connective tissues. You need to simmer the meat for long enough, so that meat becomes soft and tender.

Christmas ham: Christmas hams can delight you with their vibrant flavor and juicy core. At the same time, Christmas hams don’t pose any threat to your braces as they’re very soft and juicy. So you don’t need to miss out on the chance of chomping down the Christmas hams in the holiday.

Christmas turkey: Turkey is good for your braces as long as they’re not too stringy. Turkey meats don’t require enormous force for jaws to chew, and hence it’s okay. But you need to be extra careful if you don’t want your braces to pop off.

Lean Beef: Lean beef is healthy as they contain less saturated fats. The minimum fats help to make the meat tender and flavorful. You can pick the cuts of the legs as they’re mostly lean meats. They’re easy to cook and chewable with less crunch and stickiness.

Pork: Pork tends to be softer than beef as they’ve fewer connective tissues. Porks are slaughtered at an early age when their muscles are less developed. You can prepare pork for a soft, tender, and juicy meal though they’ve some drawbacks.

What Meat To Avoid With Braces

Selecting the right types of meat can affect the sustainability of your treatment. If you go for a hard and crunchy meal without any precautions, you’ll likely extend your treatment period. Your dentist will repair the braces and tell you to wear them for a longer time. Sometimes, you won’t understand when your wires loosen due to eating hard meat. This will create problems as the prognosis won’t satisfy you. So be aware before dipping into anything troubling.

Tough steaks: Tough cuts of steak shouldn’t get your attention as they’re cumbersome in the mouth. You’ve to sacrifice the tough steaks. If you can prepare a relatively tender and juicy steak, slice them into bite sizes and then eat wholeheartedly.

Beef jerky: Beef jerky is a popular snack some people can’t resist. They’re not so healthy as they’re processed foods and contain salts. It’s better to avoid beef jerky if you’re wearing braces. They may break the wires as they’re hard to chew.

Dehydrated meat: Dehydrated meat is processed meat that isn’t suitable for people wearing braces. They lost the juicy core due to the preservation process. They can pop off the brackets with their hard and crunchy surface.

Pork crackles: Pork cracklins are crispy snacks you need to totally avoid during braces. They can stick to the braces and bend the wires. Pork skins are processed into crackles that dentists strictly discourage.

Chicken wings: Bony chicken wings may break the braces as they’re hard and put much pressure on the jaws. You need to restrict the use of chicken wings in your meal. Once you crack on the bones, your braces may pop off or loosen, which you never want. Instead, opt for other options like boneless chicken, chicken soup, bone broth, etc.

Rib cuts: Rib cuts are relatively hard in consistency and packed with collagen fibers. Feasting on the ribs will hamper your dental treatment as they’re not chewable. You can heat them for a long time to get them tender, eventually degrading the taste and flavor. So the best thing is to avoid the rib cuts from your cuisine.

Wrap Up

You need to be alert while selecting foods for braces. You shouldn’t stay away from meats as they’re important sources of animal proteins. But it would help if you improvised a bit since moderation is the key here. A bit of awareness and wise decisions can keep all the risks of breaking braces at bay.