Can You Have Chewing Gum With Braces?

Chewing gum is absolutely the best! Having a fresh mouth and minty smile is definitely a big advantage of chewing on chewing gum as well as having several dental benefits such as keeping cavities away with sugar free gum and increased saliva flow with the use of sugar free gum.

BUT can you chew gum with braces? Does chewing gum with braces cause problems? What can happen if you chew gum with braces? We will answer all the questions below.

Disclaimer: We cannot provide professional advice to you and anything mentioned in the articles should be verified by your dentist or orthodontist first since this is just general educational information that cannot apply to every person in every case. If in doubt ask your dentist or orthodontist.

Can You Chew Gum If You Have Braces?

This is a long asked question and there is a pretty simple answer to it. No you can’t but there are good reasons for why you can’t eat chewing gum while you have braces!

Chewing gum is extremely sticky and attaches to many surfaces in the mouth at the same time. This can cause a ton of problems if you start chewing gum while you have braces!

The sticky surfaces get stuck between the brackets and wires and eventually become entangled in everything.

In other scenarios you can end up bending wires into the wrong place by chewing on gum which leads to the wires changing shape which in turn cause teeth to move into unwanted areas! This is why you can’t have gum with braces.

Can You Have Sugar Free Gum With Braces?

Unfortunately sugar free gum is also a no go for braces and cannot be used with dental braces because of the stickiness and effects it has on the braces.

Chewing sugar free chewing gum is a lot better than gum with sugar in because it leads to less chance of getting cavities since no sugar is used but still gum is not a good thing to use with braces due to the pulling effect it has on the braces.

Since chewing gum is very sticky it can get stuck between brackets of dental braces or stuck between elastics. When a bracket, wire or elastic becomes loose or comes off it may be necessary to visit your orthodontist or dentist again to get it replaced before it causes problems.

Can Chewing Gum Break Brackets In Braces?

When getting braces the orthodontist or dentist places brackets on the teeth with help to move the teeth and hold the wire firmly to the teeth.

The brackets are the main part that helps to move the teeth. It is possible that chewing gum moves the wire so much in different directions that it causes the wire to move quite a bit.

Once this happens the bracket can take a lot of stress which causes the bracket to break off. If a bracket breaks off then that tooth will not move along with the other teeth in the braces journey.

Can Chewing Gum Break Wires In Braces?

When getting braces, wires are attached to the brackets on the teeth. Wires can be made of Nickel Titanium or Stainless Steel normally or TMA wires also exist in some cases.

Chewing gum can bend wires in an abnormal direction but this is pretty rare to happen.

Chewing gum is more likely to mess up a bracket or pull a wire in a certain direction or pull a wire out of the back of the braces which may start poking the cheeks.

Can Chewing Gum Break Elastics When You Have Braces?

Elastics in orthodontics can be very useful!

They are used to move teeth in certain directions, close bites, change bites, keep wires attached to brackets, etc. When eating chewing gum elastics can become entangled with the chewing gum and pull elastics off brackets which can make the wire loose.

This means you’ll have to go back to your orthodontist or dentist who placed your braces to get the elastics replaced! This makes chewing gum a problem with braces.

So How To Keep Your Teeth Feeling Fresh And Clean Without Chewing Gum When You Have Braces?

So now that you know chewing gum can’t be chewed when having braces how can we keep the mouth feeling minty fresh and clean?

This is easy! Brushing your teeth with an electric tooth brush and flossing with super floss when you have braces is a great way to keep the mouth feeling fresh.

Brushing the tongue will prevent bad breath with braces and using an approved minty breath spray can help with having more minty breath.

In Conclusion:

Chewing chewing gum with braces is not a great idea when someone has braces. It causes more harm than benefit because a trip back to your orthodontist or dentist for a broken bracket or deformed wire may lead to extra costs and time.