Friendly Orthodontics Tips and Guidance

Sleep apnea is a serious sleep disorder that affects millions of people worldwide. It is characterized by breathing difficulties during sleep, which can lead to a wide range of health problems, including daytime drowsiness, hypertension, and an increased risk of heart disease. While traditional treatment options for sleep apnea include the use of a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine or surgery, orthodontic treatment can also be an effective way to address the underlying causes of the disorder. What Are The Symptoms of Sleep Apnea? The most common symptoms of sleep apnea include loud snoring, choking or gasping during sleep, pauses in breathing, and daytime drowsiness. Other symptoms can include morning headaches, difficulty concentrating, and mood swings. [...]

Broken brackets and wires are no fun, especially if it means you’re missing out on time enjoying holiday feasts with family and friends, or stressing about whether your teeth will shift before you can get your braces repaired. Luckily, there are a few sure-fire ways to protect your braces (and your teeth!) as much as possible. Using orthodontic wax to prevent rubbing on your cheeks and gums Avoiding crunchy, hard, sticky foods that are prone to inflict disaster on braces Brush and floss gently and consistently to keep your braces in tip-top condition If you’ve fallen victim to a broken bracket and an exposed wire, your orthodontist should be able to fix you right up, but if you have to [...]

Holiday cheer is upon us and as you look forward to celebrating with family and friends over tasty food and warm drinks, it is important to keep your orthodontic health in mind to ensure you stay on track over the holidays. Nothing would spoil Christmas morning quicker than a broken bracket or rogue wire in your mouth! Here are a few tips to incorporate into your routine during the holidays to ensure your orthodontic health stays at its peak: Brushing and flossing daily to remove food particles Using a mouthguard while playing sports with family and friends Avoid hard, sticky, sugary foods We know it isn’t always glamorous leaving the party to double-check your braces or pop your Invisalign back [...]

Orthodontic malocclusions are one of the most common problems affecting orthodontic patients today. Malocclusions are the misalignment of your jaw, preventing your upper and lower jaws from resting in relation to one another as they ideally should. In severe cases, surgery is performed to fix this issue, but for most people, braces and orthodontic treatment will be enough to take care of the misalignment issue.  People with malocclusions might not even realize they’re experiencing any abnormality unless they’ve consulted with an orthodontist. However, if you’re prone to sleep apnea, difficulty chewing food or occasionally speaking, you might be dealing with a malocclusion and not even know it. This can be a tough realization to get past, but thankfully there [...]

The thought of jaw repositioning might seem intimidating if you’re new to the term or if you aren’t sure what exactly it entails, but jaw repositioning could be one of the best things you do for your oral health. Whether you’re experiencing: Pain Sleep apnea Difficulty with speech or chewing TMD (temporomandibular joint disorder) You may find your cure linked to jaw repositioning. You or your child could be experiencing a number of orthodontic issues and not even realize that they are linked to the position of your jaw. When you experience treatment for a misaligned jaw, you open the door to a world free of jaw pain, irritation and an increased sense of self-confidence. What is Jaw Repositioning [...]

Interceptive orthodontic treatment is orthodontic treatment in its earliest possible phases. It is recommended that children have their first orthodontic appointments at seven years of age, but have you seen a seven year old with metal braces? Most likely not! This is because interceptive treatment is the orthodontic treatment that begins at or around seven years of age and sets children up for less invasive orthodontic treatment later in their pre-teen or teenage years. The benefits of early orthodontic treatment are endless, not the least of which are healthy smiles, lower future orthodontic bills and the comfort of knowing you are providing your child the best start possible to a beautiful smile they can enjoy throughout their life! The [...]

Speech is something most of us just assume happens naturally and effortlessly, but if you’re one of the hundreds of thousands of Americans who are affected by a speech impediment, you know that it’s not as simple as just learning how to speak from your parents as a toddler. Speech can be affected by jaw positioning, misaligned teeth and the tongue’s connection to the roof of the mouth.  Thankfully, orthodontics is about much more than fixing a crooked smile. While that is the physically noticeable benefit of orthodontic treatment, orthodontics also provides the means to correct speech impediments. Many people don’t even realize the connection between orthodontic treatment and speech issues and may miss out on an opportunity to have treatment [...]

Many people are tempted to confuse orthodontic treatment with cosmetic dentistry and use both terms as a universal way to describe one or the other treatment. In reality, orthodontic treatment and cosmetic dentistry are two different means of treating oral issues, but orthodontic treatment improves oral functionality and cosmetic dentistry improves the appearance of your smile. Understanding The Purpose Of Both Orthodontic treatment and cosmetic dentistry work together to give you a healthy, attractive smile, but both have different purposes. Orthodontic treatment diagnoses, corrects and prevents crooked bites, but its main purpose is to provide a healthy bite by correcting the positioning of your teeth. Good orthodontic treatment can also secure healthy teeth, gums and jaw joints, which provide for [...]

Before you get braces, you might be wondering what kind of care your teeth will need to keep them cavity free and clean during your stint with braces. While you have braces on, you might be tempted to think that they will cover any potential decay or cavities, and that’s just the issue. They DO hide tooth decay which makes it all the more difficult to keep your teeth clean. Once your braces are removed you might be unpleasantly surprised to find that your teeth don’t look as shiny and clean as you hoped they would. What’s worse is that you might find out you have cavities and vulnerable spots in those hard to reach places that your braces hid [...]

Orthodontic treatment may look slightly different for each patient, but the route through orthodontic treatment is relatively similar no matter where you start from. Treatment is broken into a few steps that should make it easier for you to understand the reasoning behind each treatment and about how long the different phases should take. Phase One Pre-BracesPhase Two Braces TreatmentPost-Braces TreatmentWhile the heavy-lifting is done in phase two during braces treatment, all of the phases work together to result in your beautiful smile and to keep it straight and healthy. Phase One: Pre-Braces Before you can have braces put on, you will need to have an appointment for an initial consultation to see exactly which options are available to [...]