6 Braces-Friendly Alternatives to Your Fave Crunchy Snacks | Braces-Friendly Snacks

When you get braces, one of the first adjustments you make to your daily life is what you can (or cannot) eat. There are some foods to avoid with braces in order to ensure you don’t damage or break them. A type of food you have to be careful about? Hard and crunchy foods. 

But what if you’re craving a bit of crunch? After all, eating with braces can’t mean just eating soft foods all the time, right? So here, Dr. DuRussel and the team at Evergreen Orthodontic Specialists share six braces-friendly alternatives to the typical crunchy foods you reached for before braces.

1. Roasted Veggies & Hummus

Carrot and celery sticks, raw broccoli… a few of the usual suspects for raw veggies and dip. But with braces, biting into these can damage your braces. A softer and tasty alternative for eating with braces is roasted veggies and hummus.

2. Cheese Puffs Like Pirate’s Booty

How about Cheetos®? As an orthodontist who has seen plenty of damaged braces from crunchy foods, we suggest skipping these hard cheesy snacks. Instead, try cheese puffs. They melt in your mouth and provide the same flavor satisfaction without being hard on your braces. Pirate’s Booty is a great example of healthier cheese puffs that have kid appeal and will fulfill that Cheetos craving.

3. Butter Crackers Like Ritz

Crackers are a popular snack, especially for kids. But many crackers are crunchy and would be on the list of foods to avoid with braces. Switch to butter crackers that crumble and melt in the mouth, like Ritz crackers.  

4. Snap Pea Crisps Instead of Chips

Can you eat chips or Doritos with braces? We suggest putting  chips firmly in the “what not to eat with braces” category. Satisfy your chips craving with snap pea crisps — a chip-like snack that shatters into thin, braces-friendly pieces and melts in your mouth. Bonus? These snacks made of peas and rice Harvest Snaps are considered a healthier alternative to chips. They’re baked, have more protein than chips, and contain some of the nutrients from the peas.

Healthwise, alternatives like kale, sweet potato, or carrot chips tend to be nicer on braces than regular chips, too.

5. Seaweed Snacks For That Salt Craving

Sometimes it’s not so much the crunch you want, it’s the saltiness. Roasted seaweed snacks offer a salty taste without the danger of crunch. And you can bet that seaweed snacks come with a host of nutritional benefits. Count fiber, iodine, and vitamins B6 and B12 as the health perks of this salty snack.

6. Sliced Fruit Instead of Whole

Raw fruit is one of those go-to snacks at any time of day. With braces, biting into a whole, crunchy fruit like an apple can damage or even break braces. But you don’t have to avoid them. Cut your crunchy raw fruit into small slices or bite-sized bits for fruit that’s gentler on braces.

Taking the Best Care of Your Smile In The Mountain Communities

Contact a knowledgeable and friendly team if you have any questions about what to eat with braces.

Or if you haven’t decided on your orthodontics yet, we’re here to help patients of all ages in Evergreen, CO achieve the smile they want with modern, comfortable braces and Invisalign.