When it comes to getting your teeth straightened, you need to know the difference between dentists and orthodontists. It’s important to know that all orthodontists are dentists, but not all dentists are orthodontists. This is because the dentistry profession, like medicine, is divided into primary care dentists and specialists. All dentists attend college, usually for four years, then attend another four years of dental school. In dental school, they are taught the basics of several procedures, and learn to clean teeth, diagnose cavities and oral diseases, and do crowns, bridges, root canals, and silver and tooth-colored fillings. They also learn to perform a number of surgical procedures, make complete and partial removable dentures, and much more. Once they graduate from dental school and pass their clinical exams, they earn their licenses to practice as dentists. At this time, these dentists are called general dentists, general practitioners, GPs, or primary care…
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Halloween Survival Guide! The bacteria in your mouth are probably more excited to eat Halloween candy than you are! When the bacteria eat the sugar and leftover food in your mouth, a weak acid is produced. That acid is what attacks the enamel of the teeth and can contribute to cavities. Here are a few ideas to help you sort through the trick-or-treat bag loot and make sure kids keep their teeth healthy and braces intact! Choose Candy Carefully! Chocolate is probably your best bet, especially for kids with braces on! This is good because it’s also the most popular kind of candy handed out on Halloween! Chocolate can wash off your teeth easier than other types of candy. Dark chocolate is even better because it has less sugar than milk chocolate. Sticky candies cling to your teeth, which makes them some of the worst candies for your teeth! Watch…
October Updates and In-Office Contests
Pumpkin Decorating Contest: Each team member took home a pumpkin and decorated it for an in office decorating contest. We have pumpkins in each office and we need your help to vote for your favorite pumpkin. Any person that votes will receive 5 extra points on their rewards card. Contest will run until 10/31. You can vote two ways: In office when you come to your appointment On our Facebook page In Office Contest: We are asking out patients to guess the number of cheese balls in the pumpkin container. The person who guesses the correct amount (without going over) will win a $25 Amazon gift card. This contest runs until 10/31. Halloween With Halloween around the corner we are asking all of our patients to be careful with sticky, chewy, hard and gooey candy. Hard food and or candy puts a huge amount of pressure on your braces…
Self Improvement
Orthodontics is all about self-improvement. We are very thankful to have the opportunity to improve your smiles. Helping you look great boosts your confidence and enables you to optimize your dental health. The trend today is to want to look your best, stay healthy, and fit. Workout centers are everywhere and they are always busy. I urge you to seek self improvement in every way possible. The past few years, I’ve enjoyed staying fit, but also have focused on reading. I am not just reading anything, but I am reading books that focus on self-improvement. I’ve shared these books with my friends and family. It is consensus that the favorites are by Andy Andrews. The Noticer and The Traveler’s Gift being the most liked. Adults favor Og Mandino and well as Andy Andrews. Og wrote The Greatest Miracle in the World and The Greatest Salesman in the World. Reading these…
Advances in Dentistry
Computerization has caused an enormous amount of change in our lives and in the health care industry. Treatment records are now paperless as well as diagnostic records (images that a patient needs to determine treatment). It’s hard to believe that it’s been 17 years since we went paperless in 1999! We now have digital intra-oral scanners in both offices, which help us to upgrade our treatment results from our “impression era” care. Patients enjoy not being “gagged” during their digital image capturing. Align technology has lead the charge with appliances that are 3-D printed from images captured by their digital scanners. Scan times are as short as 5 minutes, delivering appliances that are extremely precise. Our doctors deliver treatment instructions to computer technicians who dial in tooth movements that are exactly what we order. In many cases, our Invisalign treatments are superior to what we could achieve with braces. The…