How To Prevent Braces From Breaking: 7 Tips From The Experts

Breaking a bracket or snapping a wire is one of those things that seems to happen at the worst possible time. Usually right before a holiday, or when you’ve got something important coming up, or – naturally – on a Friday evening when the orthodontist’s office is about to close for the weekend.

The good news? Most broken braces are entirely preventable. Not all of them, obviously. Sometimes a bracket just comes loose through no fault of your own. But the vast majority of breaks happen because of things you can actually control.

Mind What You Eat

This is the big one. The number one cause of broken braces is eating things you probably shouldn’t be eating with braces on.

Hard foods are the main culprits. Biting into an apple, crunching through ice cubes, eating nuts, hard sweets, popcorn kernels – these can all snap wires or pop brackets right off your teeth. It’s not worth it, honestly. You can still eat apples, just cut them into smaller pieces first instead of biting straight into them.

Sticky foods are almost as bad. Toffee, caramel, chewing gum, gummy sweets – they grab onto your brackets and pull. Sometimes they win that battle. The frustrating bit is that sticky foods don’t just risk breaking your braces, they’re also a nightmare to clean off afterwards.

Chewy foods sit somewhere in the middle but can still cause problems. Bagels, hard bread rolls, tough meat – anything that requires serious jaw work can put extra pressure on your brackets and wires.

Check out our full list of foods to avoid while wearing braces if you want specifics. It’s not as restrictive as you might think, but there are definitely some casualties.

Don’t Use Your Teeth As Tools

You’d be surprised how often people do this without thinking. Opening crisp packets with your teeth. Biting off clothing tags. Holding things in your mouth while your hands are full. Chewing on pen lids.

All of these put unnecessary pressure on your braces in directions they’re not designed to handle. Brackets are strong enough to withstand normal chewing forces, but they’re not designed to cope with you trying to open a bottle or tear open packaging.

Just… use scissors. Or your hands. Your future self will thank you when you’re not sitting in an emergency orthodontic appointment.

Protect Your Mouth During Sports

If you play contact sports – rugby, football, hockey, martial arts, anything where you might take an impact to the face – wear a mouthguard. Non-negotiable, really.

You can get special mouthguards designed for people with braces. They’re a bit bulkier than regular ones because they need to cover the brackets, but they work. Your orthodontist can help you find one that fits properly.

Even non-contact sports can be risky. Balls fly in unexpected directions. Elbows happen. A mouthguard is cheap insurance against both broken braces and broken teeth.

Be Gentle With Your Cleaning Routine

Yes, you need to clean around your braces thoroughly. But there’s a difference between thorough and aggressive.

Brushing too hard can actually loosen brackets or damage wires. Use a soft-bristled brush and let the bristles do the work – you don’t need to scrub like you’re cleaning grout. Angle the brush to get under the wires and around the brackets, but keep the pressure moderate.

When you’re flossing (which you should be doing daily, even though it’s a faff with braces), be careful threading the floss under the wires. Yanking or pulling too hard can bend wires out of position.

Interdental brushes are brilliant for cleaning around brackets, but again – gentle does it. Push them through carefully rather than forcing them.

Don’t Play With Your Braces