After getting braces, you get worried about the foods that you should eat with braces. So, you must want to know, Can you eat chicken with braces?
You can eat boneless and easy to chew chicken dishes with braces. Ingredients like soft vegetables can also be added to the recipe. However, you should avoid chicken recipes with hard, sticky, and crunchy ingredients as these can damage your braces.
If you want to eat KFC chicken, make small pieces before you take them and ensure that crispy or crunchy portion doesn’t hurt your braces.
Let’s take a look at some of the chicken dishes that you can eat or not with braces.
When can’t you eat chicken with braces?
Here are some possible moments and types of chicken when you can’t eat with braces:
Be careful after getting braces tightened
After you get braces tightened, you may feel pain for the first few days. During this time, you have to avoid some chicken dishes. Choose the foods more carefully at that time. Otherwise, your braces may fall out or the wire may get torn.
Hard, crunchy chicken pieces
If you find that the chicken item is hard or crunchy, you have to cautious, sometimes you need to avoid them.
Some chicken dishes contain hard and crunchy ingredients like nuts or almonds, which aren’t friendly for braces. But, why is that?
The reason is they can break your braces or tear the wires. Biting on the hard and chewy chicken piece provides pressure to the teeth as well as braces.
So, your braces may get loose. If the chicken pieces aren’t soft, it may get lodged into braces or wires and cause damage.
This about the time when a fiber of the chicken gets stuck between the teeth. You can clean them without braces.
But, with braces on teeth, you will face trouble to remove that. If that remains for a long time, there’ll be an excess deposition of bacteria and plaque.
Eventually, you’ll have tooth decay and sensitivity. However, chicken pieces aren’t so bad as mutton or beef.
Sticky chicken
Some chicken dishes are sticky. Part of it can get stuck in brackets and wires. You may also have to face problems to clean them. Again, they can damage the braces and teeth. So, be careful.
Chicken bones and ribs
Don’t bite on the bones while wearing braces. Many people like to eat bones. Sometimes, they bite on the whole bone piece, like during eating a leg piece.
These types of activities are going to damage the braces. Meat from the ribs is also very dangerous for your braces.
Ingredients of chicken dishes
Ingredients used to prepare a chicken dish or recipe may not be suitable for the braces. If they are hard, sticky, and crunchy, you should avoid the dish.
Types of chicken dishes to avoid with braces
Here are examples of some chicken dishes you should stay away from while wearing braces:
Fried crispy chicken
Many people love to eat a chicken item from KFC, McDonald’s, or Popeyes chicken. But, can you eat those chicken with braces?
Not all items are good for your braces. The outer portion of the crispy fried chicken can hurt the wires. Just look at the rough surface and you can understand that. But, there is always an alternative way.
Chicken Pizza with hard crust or topping
Stay away from pizza that has a hard crust. Some bread may need a lot of effort to chew, that’s also bad for your braces. Also, be careful of toppings.
If the chicken pizza contains hard, sticky, and crunchy toppings, it’s better to ignore that. Chicken pieces of the pizza shouldn’t be hard or bigger in size.
Chicken Burger
It’s not a great idea to eat any type of burger with braces. Burger usually contains a big piece of the chicken piece.
Moreover, you have to open your mouth wide to take a bite, as the buns make it big in size. It can break the braces.
So, you can’t use the normal techniques to eat the burger with braces. In addition, some buns may be hard and chewy, and make it hard to chew.
Chicken wings
You should stay away from chicken wings while wearing braces. But, why? It’s the bony part of the chicken and some wings are crispy.
However, you may use a special technique to eat it. But, you may not enjoy that.
How to eat chicken with braces
Here are the possible ways to eat chicken with braces:
1. Boneless chicken
As bone can damage your braces, eat the boneless chicken.
2. Make small slices
Whatever chicken item you choose, take a fork and a knife. Cut it into as smaller pieces as possible. You can also use your finger for that. Even if you prefer chicken with bones, make smaller slices before you eat.
3. Soft cooked
You must eat the chicken which is well boiled and soft to prevent any damage to braces.
4. Non-sticky variety
Pick a chicken recipe that isn’t sticky and easy to clean teeth after you eat.
5. Chewing slowly
While wearing braces, you have to protect your braces and their components from any kind of damage. You can eat chicken but you have to chew slowly and carefully so that they don’t hurt the braces.
6. Choose chicken Recipes that you can eat with braces
Here are some examples:
Chicken salad
In the USA and Europe. Chicken salad is one of the popular dishes. It’s completely fine to eat it with braces on teeth. However, you should be cautious about other ingredients of the salad such as raw hard vegetables or nuts.
Grilled chicken
It’s ok to eat grilled chicken with braces only if you can protect your braces. But, you must cut the chicken into tiny pieces. In addition, you can’t chew fast, as it can hurt your braces. Just be careful that it’s not hard.
Meatloaf
Can you eat meatloaf with braces on your teeth? You can eat chicken meatloaf with braces if it’s soft. With that, make small pieces of the meatloaf using fork and knife, and chew slowly.
Chicken nuggets
You can eat chicken nuggets with braces. However, you have to chew slowly so that it’s rough surfaces don’t hit the wires and brackets.
Soft crust chicken pizza
You can go for chicken pizza if the bread is soft and easy to chew. Moreover, check the toppings before you eat, because it should be soft. It’s also important to make small pieces and chew slowly.
To learn more about the ways of eating pizza and it’s recipe, check this article.
Chicken sandwich
You may not eat a burger with braces, but you can eat a chicken sandwich with braces. The reason for that is it’s soft and easy to chew.
Chicken soup
Chicken soup is a great choice for braces wearer. Chicken slices of the soup are usually soft and small. You can take eat without having any problem. Even, you can take it when you have sore teeth after getting braces.
Chicken Noodle Soup
Another braces-friendly chicken item is a chicken noodle soup, which is very healthy. You can take it at breakfast, even at lunch. You don’t need to be worried about braces getting damaged.
Gravy boneless chicken dishes
As you can eat any soft boneless chicken, you may try different gravy dishes. Now, you may curious to know some examples. You can eat orange chicken, butter chicken or, an Indian recipe like Chicken Tikka Masala.
Chicken cutlets
You can try skinless and boneless chicken cutlets with braces on. But, take time to chew and make small pieces of it before you eat.
Chicken fried rice
Rice is a braces-friendly food and if you like chicken so much, you can eat chicken fried rice. Just don’t overcook the rice so that it can’t get hard.
Asian-Style Chicken Slaw
You can go for chicken slaw, as it’s boneless and soft. You may follow a recipe to cook that at home. It can be a great idea for lunch.
Chicken Wraps
If you consider a healthy recipe for lunch while wearing braces, you select chicken wraps. However, before taking be careful about its ingredients if it’s friendly for braces.
7. Clean teeth properly after eating chicken
You can choose different types of chicken dishes with braces, but you must clean the teeth and braces after the meal.
Floss your teeth perfectly, follow the flossing method with braces on teeth and remove the parts of the chicken that get stuck between teeth and braces.
Conclusion
Chicken is one of the best protein-rich foods that you can eat with braces. But, you have to pick soft and non-sticky chicken recipes that don’t damage the braces.
Though you can eat braces-friendly chicken recipes, you have to clean the tooth thoroughly after each meal. You must avoid those chicken dishes that are hard or may get stuck in your braces.
