Author: Ask Dr. Reynolds

What’s the scariest thing about Halloween? Haunted houses? Ghost stories? Frightening costumes?

For dentists and orthodontists like me, it’s the candy.

Keeping braces clean at the best of times is a challenge. With mountains of candy that can potentially damage braces, Halloween doesn’t make it any easier. If your child (or you) is navigating Halloween this year with braces, here are some do’s and don’ts to get you through the holiday.

Do: Keep the “Good” Stuff

Let’s start with the positive: there are actually a lot of treats your child can safely eat with braces. So start by sorting through your child’s Halloween haul and look for the following:

• Plain chocolate
• Peanut butter cups
• Brownies
• Soft cookies
• Snack cakes (like Twinkies, Ding Dongs, etc.)
• Pixi stix

Contrary to popular belief, orthodontists don’t condemn all candy. Of course, you may want to limit how many treats your child has and ensure that they always practice proper dental hygiene after consuming sweets, but these candies don’t present any direct danger to braces.

Don’t: Eat the “Bad” Stuff

That Halloween bag is likely to come back with a lot of sweets that are decidedly not braces-friendly. Separate out the following:

• Candy corn
• Chocolate with nuts, nougat, caramel, etc.
• Nuts
• Nougat
• Caramel (and caramel apples)
• Toffee
• Taffy
• Fruit chews
• Sour and gummy candies
• Tootsie rolls
• Licorice
• Popcorn
• Jawbreakers

You’re looking for anything that’s crunchy, chewy, or sticky, as these can cause brackets to pop off or damage the wire. If you don’t want it around the house, consider donating unwanted Halloween candy instead.

Pro tip: Talk about expectations with your child before they bring the candy home. That way they’ll be prepared for you to sort through their candy and remove some items before they dig in.

Do: Make Sure Teeth Get Brushed

Beyond the danger of damage to braces, candy also contains a lot of sugar that can cause tooth decay if not cleaned away. If your child is young enough to trick or treat, then they are probably still young enough for you to supervise them brushing their teeth for a night or two (or as long as the candy lasts!). Make sure they brush for the full two minutes and then follow it up with flossing.

This is also a good opportunity to stress the importance of good oral health habits. Give them positive feedback for taking great care of their teeth and braces. Remind them how important regular brushing and flossing are and that if they keep it up, they’ll have a beautiful smile at the end of treatment.

Don’t: Avoid Halloween Because of Braces

Think back to when you were little. Halloween was probably one of your favorite days of the year. It’s so much fun to get dressed up, and it’s even more fun to get a bunch of candy. So while it’s smart to be concerned about your child’s braces and oral health, it’s totally fine for them to take part. There’s no need to ban trick-or-treating or to confiscate all the candy they collect. Just follow the tips above and have a happy Halloween!

Back to school means getting into the routine of new classes, new teachers, and nightly homework. Could it also mean a first trip to the orthodontist for your child?

If your child has just entered the second grade, it could be time for them to go to the orthodontist. I know this sounds very young, but the American Association of Orthodontists (AAO) recommends that all children have their first orthodontic appointment by the age of seven, which is usually the second grade.

Will Your Child Need Orthodontic Intervention?

First, rest assured that the majority of young children are not candidates for orthodontic treatment. Only about 20% of kids this age have an issue that could benefit from early intervention.

Treatment at this age is not primarily concerned with straightening teeth. That’s for Phase 2, which typically happens in early adolescence. Phase 1 is concerned with correcting and preventing problems such as overcrowding, jaw misalignment, or a bad bite. Early intervention doesn’t always require braces; depending on the issue, treatment may involve an expander, headgear, a functional appliance, or extraction instead.

It’s important to note that you can’t always tell if your child is a candidate for early intervention simply by looking yourself. While a severe overbite, underbite, or crossbite is easy to see, there’s a lot more going on with your child’s teeth, bite, and jaw than meets the eye. That’s why it’s always best to see the orthodontist.

What if You Don’t Take Your Child to the Orthodontist Until Adolescence?

Some parents may want to skip the early visit altogether, thinking that any existing problems can wait for correction until later on down the line. This is akin to waiting to fix that small leak in your roof until it’s a huge leak. The truth is, if there are issues from an early age, they will only get worse as your child grows.

Just as fixing a few shingles on your roof is easier than replacing the whole thing later, addressing orthodontic problems early on (if advised) is easier. The palate and the jaws are still growing around age seven which makes treatment easier. The lower jaw stops growing around the end of puberty, typically between 16-18 for boys and 13-15 for girls, and the upper jaw stops growing even earlier. If treatment commences once the palate and jaws are set in place, it won’t be as easy to get the desired results.

So what happens if you wait? For some families, it won’t matter – there are some children who wouldn’t have benefited from early intervention anyway. But for the children who could benefit, skipping an early appointment and delaying treatment could potentially result in longer, more invasive, and less effective treatment in the teen years

A New Back-to-School Activity

Since many orthodontic offices offer a free consultation (including ours!), you have nothing to lose by making an appointment at the orthodontist for your child. The odds are that they won’t need any treatment at all. And if they do, it’s best to address it early. Just consider it one more back-to-school activity.

Getting braces is a big deal and a big investment.  It changes what we can eat and how we take care of our teeth for a significant amount of time.  However, it doesn’t change everything! In fact, you’ll find you do everything you did before – just with an added level of care. Many of our patients are youth who are active and engaged in numerous extracurricular activities, including sports.

I understand how important these activities are; I grew up a sports-obsessed kid who desperately dreamed he was the Irish equivalent of local basketball hero Isiah Thomas. My daily wardrobe consisted of anything I had with Detroit Pistons on it. Sadly, my crossover dribble was not NBA caliber, and my basketball career ended with my high-school career. I went to college planning to become an athletic trainer and majored in exercise physiology. I wanted to be as close to sports as possible in my work. A friend talked me into trying out for the University of Michigan men’s volleyball team, and we were both shocked when I made the final spot on the roster without having had any organized volleyball experience. As it turns out, some basketball skills do cross over into volleyball! Over the next several seasons, I went on to become team captain and to garner all–Big Ten and all-region honors. Following college, my volleyball obsession headed me to the sand and the pro beach two-on-two sand volleyball circuit.

I personally know the importance of our passions, and I promise you there’s no reason to discontinue those activities while undergoing your orthodontic treatment!

Depending on the activity, different mouthguard options and levels of awareness may be required to protect your mouth and the appliances being used for your treatment.  Make sure you speak with us or your orthodontist about the sports you are engaged in so we can provide the kind of protection you need. Not consulting your orthodontist can result in the following:

• Cuts to your tongue, lips and cheeks
• Chipped or broken teeth – which can be a concern with or without braces!
• Broken appliance pieces
• Significant damage to teeth or the jaw
• Concussions: mouthguards provide a shock absorber for blows to the face which prevents concussions.

While these injuries are uncommon, they are possible and completely preventable.  Work with your orthodontist to see about different mouthguard options that are available for you and the kind of sport you are engaged in.  Also, it’s important to understand that there is a difference between regular mouthguards and customized orthodontic mouthguards that are created to protect braces and other orthodontic appliances.  Together you can create a solution that is both comfortable and protects the investment being made for your future smile. Contact us today with any questions you may have!

Parents are always looking for ways to make toothbrush time more fun for the little ones. Fortunately, the digital age has brought along with it a number of fun gadgets, games, and apps to do just that. Here’s some tech that parents can check out if they’re looking to boost their tots’ motivation when it comes to oral hygiene. 

 

Fun, High-Tech Toothbrushes  

Brushes have come a long way. Here’s how some companies are finding ways to get little ones to brush for the recommended full 2 minutes, twice a day.  

The GUM Crayola Timer Light Toothbrushes (here) not only look like a giant crayon (fun!) but also flash for the whole 2 minutes’ brushing time. 

Is your child in love with all things Frozen? If so, the Oral-B Pro-Health electric toothbrush line featuring Elsa, Anna, Olaf, and Sven (here) should do the trick. There are also brushes featuring other popular characters from Disney, Marvel, and Star Wars. 

These brushes in the Oral-B Pro-Health Stages or JR. line are even more effective when used along with the Disney Magic Timer App (here), which keeps kids brushing for the full two minutes by slowly “brushing away” on screen to reveal images of their favorite characters and allowing kids to collect virtual stickers. 

“The world’s first interactive smart toothbrush” is how Grush (here) describes itself. This toothbrush knows which teeth your child is brushing and encourages them to brush all four quadrants. It helps them build good habits with their “magic toothbrush” while playing games through the connected app. (Other toothbrushes with a similar idea are being developed but haven’t hit the market yet. Keep an eye out for Playbrush and Kolibree.)  

 

There’s an App for That 

Plenty of apps for phones and tablets work independently of the toothbrush. Here are just a few. 

The free Toothsavers Brushing Game (here) app brings kids along the journey with Toothy and the Toothsavers to break a wicked spell cast by an evil sorceress that has left everyone in the kingdom with a mouth full of cavities. A parents’ section allows parents to keep track of their child’s progress.  

For older kids (and adults, too), Brush DJ (here) is a free, ultra simple app that plays 2 minutes of a song from your phone to keep you brushing. It also lets you set reminders on your phone to brush your teeth and get dental check-ups. 

Animal-loving kids will also love Chomper Chums Mobile App (here), which features animal pals who help kids brush and floss. Kids earn points to buy healthy food for their character. 

 

Alexa and Google Home 

Your virtual assistants can help your kids brush, too. Of course, the simplest thing to do is set a timer for two minutes, but where’s the fun in that? Here are tailor-made apps for tooth brushing tots to consider instead.

Enable the Chompers app (here) for Alexa and when it’s time to brush, just say “Alexa, start Chompers.” Songs, stories, and jokes keep kids brushing for the full two minutes.  

Another one for Alexa, Bye Bye Cavities (here) guides children to brush their entire mouths and at the end of each session, they get a new prize. 

For Google Home, try Tayo (here). Tayo the Little Bus helps kids get into good habits and uses music to stop little ones getting bored. 

 

Parents, Keep Looking for Solutions 

There are so many new specialty toothbrushes, apps, and games out there (many of them free, too), with the same purpose: make it easier to get kids to brush their teeth twice a day, every day, for two minutes. If you’ve tried several and still haven’t found one that “clicks” with your child yet, don’t give up! Keep looking for one that does. The goal is to help your children develop a lifelong brushing habit, and that can take a while. Just keep looking. 

Photo credit: Tom’s Guide

In a previous blog post we looked at why flossing is so important for your oral and overall health. It’s always important to floss, but it’s especially for people with braces to floss to make sure they’re keeping their mouth free from food particles and plaque build-up.

Flossing with traditional braces is… challenging. Challenging, but not impossible! Although the wires mean you can’t use dental floss the way you did pre-braces, there are still ways to clean in between your teeth and at the gum line. To help you with this, here are four great tools that can help you in your dental hygiene routine.

Floss Threaders

Wires in traditional braces make normal flossing impossible, but floss threaders help. These little pieces of looped plastic allow you to insert floss in between each pair of teeth, one by one, so you can make contact with the inside edges of the teeth and get all the way up to the gum line. This is crucial for keeping gums healthy and for ridding bacteria from in between teeth. (They’re also useful later for the same reason if you’re fitted with a permanent retainer on the back of your upper or lower teeth after getting your braces off.)

Water Flossers

Water flossers do what regular floss does, just with water instead of fiber. They are electric, either battery operated or rechargeable, and use high water pressure and pulsation to dislodge food particles, plaque, and bacteria from in between teeth. Just like dental floss, water flossers are intended for daily use.

Air Flossers

Water flossers use water to clean between your teeth; guess what air flossers use. That’s right, air. One complaint about water flossers is how much water they use. Instead, these just use a very small amount of water to shoot high-pressure pulses of air in between teeth, removing plaque and debris in the process. Like water flossers, they are battery operated or come with a recharging station and should be used daily.

Interdental Brushes

Also called interproximal brushes or soft picks, these devices come in different sizes and typically feature a very small 360º brush at the end of a slim plastic handle. The very small brushes can get in between teeth to clean above and below the braces wire. They’re also great for cleaning the spaces between the wire and the tooth surface, as well as the brackets themselves. Some people use them daily in place of floss while others use them to clean as needed.

It’s About the Habit

Remember that it’s important to keep up good hygiene habits during orthodontic treatment. You don’t want to get your braces off only to find you have decay and gum inflammation that needs attention – that’s not part of the beautiful smile you’ve been dreaming about.

Flossing daily must be a habit, and it’s less important whether you use dental floss you got free from your last check-up or the latest, most expensive gadget. The only must is to do it daily, or you won’t get optimal results. In the end, it’s not about the tools you use, but the habit you have.

Did you know that a little piece of string is powerful enough to save your teeth, and maybe even your life?

Sounds crazy, but it’s true. I’m talking, of course, about dental floss. Though we all know by now that we’re supposed to floss daily, many of us still skip this basic step in oral care, believing that brushing is enough.

If you’ve been lax in your flossing habits, read on. You’ll better understand how powerful this simple piece of white string can be to your oral health and your overall health.

Flossing Saves Your Teeth

Quick recap on how decay happens: Sugars from the things we eat and drink attach to the surfaces of the teeth. Bacteria present in the mouth feed on these sugars and produce an acid that erodes the surface of the tooth, which can lead to decay. If the decay becomes bad enough, this can lead to fillings, crowns, root canals, or even tooth extractions.

To prevent decay, we need to get rid of the bacteria’s meals – i.e., the leftover sugars and food particles. Brushing does a great job of removing them from the surfaces of the teeth, but only flossing gets in between the teeth, removing the plaque and food we can’t even see but are doing harm.

Flossing Keeps Your Gums Pink and Healthy

Bacteria building up between the teeth can start attacking the gums, too, causing inflammation. If you’ve ever stopped flossing for a while and noticed puffy gums, red gums or light bleeding when you started flossing again, then you’ve experienced this yourself. Fortunately, the bleeding usually stops on its own after a few days of flossing, and the gums return to their healthy, pink selves.

When gums are ignored, it can lead to gum inflammation (gingivitis) and gum disease (periodontitis). Left long enough, gum disease can leave the gums in a state that can only be fixed with invasive procedures like gum grafts or bone surgery.

Flossing Can Help Your Whole Body Health (And May Extend Your Life)

The benefits of flossing go beyond healthy gums and teeth. As an important part of the defense system in the mouth, healthy gums keep foreign invaders out of the rest of our system. When diseased, gums can allow in harmful pathogens that can wreak havoc on our insides. These may cause acute infections or contribute to systemic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, bacterial pneumonia, and diabetes, all of which gum disease is associated with.

Other research has found a link between gum disease and death, showing that people with periodontal disease have higher rates of mortality, particularly when combined with other oral health hygiene problems.

Flossing is Especially Important for Pregnant Women

Periodontitis in pregnant women is associated with pre-term birth and low birth weight, both of which come with their own set of complications for the baby’s short-term and long-term health. Since fluctuating hormones during pregnancy can cause more gum problems in the first place, it’s vital for pregnant women to keep up (or start) a good flossing habit.

Floss Every Day

As you can see, flossing is about more than keeping your teeth looking good. It’s one of the simplest, cheapest, and quickest things you can do that has a disproportionately large impact on your overall health. If you’ve been skipping the floss recently, get back into the habit. Your health will thank you.