What can I eat the first week with braces?
Cited to 4 sources. Reviewed 2026-08-25.
Plan on soft, no-bite foods for the first three days, then work back toward normal braces-safe eating by the end of the first week. Yogurt, eggs, soup, pasta, mashed potatoes, smoothies, soft fish and cooked vegetables cover the sore days. From day four most people can chew normally again as long as food is cut into small pieces and chewed with the back teeth. The permanent braces rules on hard, sticky, crunchy and chewy foods start on day one and last the whole treatment.
- Soft foods only
- Days 1 to 3
- Back to most normal foods
- Days 4 to 7
- Hard, sticky and crunchy foods
- Off limits the whole time
- Best drinks with braces
- Water and milk
What to expect, step by step
Pressure builds through the day. By evening most people cannot comfortably bite into anything, and front teeth feel bruised.
What to do: Nothing that needs biting: yogurt, applesauce, smoothies with a spoon, soup, mashed potatoes, scrambled eggs, pudding. Cold foods feel better than hot ones.
This is the sorest stretch. Chewing with the back teeth is possible but tender, and biting with the front teeth still is not.
What to do: Add soft pasta, oatmeal, soft fish, ripe bananas, soft cheese, well cooked vegetables, tofu, refried beans. Keep everything in small pieces.
The ache drops off. You start eating without planning around it, though some teeth are still tender.
What to do: Reintroduce soft bread, tender chicken, ground meat, soft tortillas, rice, soft fruit. Cut everything and chew on the back teeth.
Tooth soreness is generally gone. What is left is learning to eat around the hardware, and possibly some cheek rubbing.
What to do: Move to your permanent braces diet: normal foods minus anything hard, sticky, crunchy or chewy, with fruit and sandwiches cut into pieces.
The first three days: a real shopping list
Buy this before your appointment, not after. Nobody wants to go to the store on the evening of day one.
- Dairy and protein: yogurt, cottage cheese, soft cheese, scrambled or soft boiled eggs, tofu, hummus
- Starches: mashed potatoes, oatmeal, soft pasta, rice, polenta, soft bread without a crust
- Soups and liquids: broth based or blended soups, milk, smoothies eaten with a spoon
- Fruit and vegetables: applesauce, ripe bananas, avocado, cooked and well softened carrots, squash, spinach
- Softer proteins for days 2 and 3: flaky fish, ground meat in sauce, slow cooked chicken pulled apart
- Cold treats that double as pain relief: ice cream, frozen yogurt, chilled smoothies
How to eat when biting hurts
The single most useful habit is to stop biting with your front teeth and start cutting. The American Association of Orthodontists specifically recommends cutting food into small pieces so you do not have to bite directly with the front teeth, which are the most sensitive and the easiest place to pop a bracket loose.
That means an apple gets sliced instead of bitten, corn comes off the cob, a sandwich gets cut into quarters, and pizza gets eaten with a fork if the crust is firm. Chew slowly on the back teeth. Aggressive chewing is what dislodges brackets and bends wires, and a broken bracket in week one is an avoidable extra appointment.
What is off limits from day one and stays that way
The soft food phase ends after a few days, but the braces food rules do not. For the entire time your braces are on, avoid anything hard, sticky, crunchy or chewy: popcorn, nuts, ice, hard candy, caramel and taffy, hard pretzels, chips, crusty bread and bagels, chewing gum, and tough cuts of meat.
These are not comfort restrictions, they are hardware restrictions. Hard foods snap brackets off and bend wires, and sticky foods pull brackets loose. Every broken bracket is an unplanned visit and can add time to your overall treatment.
Drinks matter more than people expect
The AAO is direct about this: water and milk are the best choices while braces are on. Soda, sports drinks, energy drinks and sweet tea bathe the enamel around every bracket in sugar and acid, and the areas right next to brackets are the hardest places to clean.
That combination is exactly how white spots form. If you do drink something sugary or acidic, rinse with water afterward and brush when you can.
Call your dentist or oral surgeon if
- A bracket that comes loose or a wire that pops out of place while eating: call your orthodontist for an appointment
- A wire poking into your cheek or gum that wax will not control
- Soreness that is still severe or getting worse after day 3 instead of easing
- Being unable to eat or drink enough for more than a day or two
- Gum swelling, fever, or pus and a bad taste that does not rinse away
Related questions
Can I eat pizza with braces?
Soft crust pizza is fine, and the AAO lists it among braces friendly foods. Thin crispy crust and the hard outer edge are the risk. Cut it up rather than biting into a slice.
When can I eat an apple again?
Right away, sliced. Whole apples are on the ADA avoid list because biting into one puts exactly the wrong kind of force on your front brackets. Cut into wedges, apples are fine for the whole of treatment.
Are smoothies safe with braces?
Yes, and they are useful in the sore days. Straws are fine with braces, unlike after an extraction. Just watch the sugar and rinse with water afterward.
How long until I can eat normally?
Most people are chewing comfortably by day four or five and eating close to normal within a week, minus the permanent hard, sticky, crunchy and chewy restrictions.
Sources
- Braces-Friendly Foods: What to Eat and What to Avoid (American Association of Orthodontists)
- Living With Braces: Food, Oral Hygiene and Care Tips (American Association of Orthodontists)
- Braces (American Dental Association (MouthHealthy))
- How to Manage Orthodontic Discomfort: What to Expect with Braces (American Association of Orthodontists)
Reviewed against the sources above on 2026-08-25. General information only, not dental advice. Your own provider's aftercare instructions come first.
Keep reading
Four categories cover almost everything you cannot eat with braces: hard, sticky, crunchy and chewy. That means popcorn, nuts, ice, hard candy, caramel and taffy, gum, hard pretzels, chips, crusty bread and bagels, corn on the cob, whole apples and tough meat. Hard and crunchy foods snap brackets off and bend wires, sticky and chewy foods pull brackets loose, and both create extra appointments that can add time to your treatment. Most other foods are fine if you cut them small and chew with your back teeth.
The soreness peaks 24 to 48 hours after your braces go on and then fades quickly, so most people feel clearly better by day 4 or 5 and close to normal within a week. The first day is usually pressure rather than pain, the second day is the worst, and it improves from there. Cheek and lip rubbing is a separate problem that can last one to two weeks while the soft tissue toughens up. Severe or ongoing pain is not expected, so call your orthodontist if it does not settle.
No to both, and not just during the sore first week. Popcorn and chips are off limits for the entire time your braces are on. Popcorn is the single worst snack for braces: unpopped kernels crack brackets, and the thin hulls wedge under wires and into the gum where you cannot get them out. Chips are hard and sharp enough to pop a bracket loose and fragment into the same spaces. Both come off the avoid list the day your braces come off, not before.
The general raw feeling from new braces usually settles within one to two weeks as the lining of your cheeks and lips toughens against the hardware. Individual sores that have already formed take about a week or two to heal on their own, and they heal only once whatever was rubbing is covered or fixed. Orthodontic wax over the offending bracket plus warm salt water rinses is the standard combination. A sore that keeps growing, or one caused by a wire you cannot control with wax, means calling your orthodontist.