If you think about it, the use of mouth-guards and the reasons for using them isn't that far removed from orthodontic technology and the principals at SuperSmile Orthodontics we employ to create a beautiful and healthy smile for our patients!

Mouth-guards: Not Just a Good Idea but a GREAT One!

Working together as a team is needed to create a beautiful smile. We can’t do it ourselves without patient cooperation and we all work together to ensure a healthy final dental result to last a lifetime! So why should it be any different with the use of a mouth-guard?

The facts speak for themselves: Studies have shown that mouth-guards prevent well over 200,000 mouth or tooth injuries a year! Individuals are 60 times more likely to damage their teeth when not wearing a mouth-guard while engaged in contact sports or rigorous physical exercise. Why risk making yourself another statistic? After all the time and effort you go through straightening your teeth why risk damaging your teeth, resulting in unnecessary costly dental work and discomfort.

Easy to Avoid Injury

The crazy thing is… it's easy to avoid serious damage or injury to your teeth just by using a mouth-guard! Still not convinced? Check out some of this mouth-guard trivia:

- Losing one or more teeth due to lack of a mouth-guard is trauma enough for most individuals. But would you believe that over a lifetime you may spend as much as $10,000 or more per tooth to repair the damage. Do the math… it pays to wear a mouth-guard.

- Mouth-guards used to be used primarily for the sport of boxing but the benefits of wearing a mouth-guard has spread over to dozens of different contact sports including basketball, bicycling, ice hockey, and even volleyball. When in doubt, wear a mouth guard, even when playing unorganized contact sports with friends and family.

A Good Investment in Your Smile

The logic is seen in black and white. Protect your teeth and protect your smile by using a mouth-guard. Better yet contact us today to learn more about mouth-guards and discuss any other questions you may have regarding the protection of your mouth and teeth.

• The first baby teeth are usually lost at about six years of age. Some kids may lose theirs as early as five or as late as seven, which is still considered normal.
• The average child will have lost eight baby teeth by age eight; four front teeth on top and four front teeth on the bottom.
• Between 8-10 you will normally not see much loss or eruption of teeth. During this two-year “break” interceptive orthodontic treatment may be indicated. This is why the American Association of Orthodontics recommends that all children be evaluated by age 7. This allows Dr. Brian Chamberlain to determine if your child’s teeth and jaws are developing correctly and intervene with recommendations or treatment, if indicated.
• Around ten years of age the remaining teeth begin to fall out. The average adolescent loses all their baby teeth before 13. Girls often lose their teeth faster than the boys and sometimes as early as 11. The 12-year or 2^nd molars start to make their appearance during this time.
• Third molars will begin to develop around age 16 and more often than not, need to be removed due to lack of space in the dental arch to accommodate the teeth. X-rays at this age are recommended to determine if there is enough room for third molars before the roots fully develop to make extraction easier if required.

Most parents have questions about delayed tooth loss during the two years between eight and ten when nothing is happening. However, parents need not worry about delayed tooth loss unless:

• There is not enough room for permanent teeth causing crowding. They may not be able to push out the overlying baby teeth.
• Congenitally missing permanent teeth. Baby teeth with no underlying permanent replacements may be retained indefinitely.
• Extra teeth can block the normal eruption of permanent ones. With a simple x-ray, your orthodontist can tell you if there really is a problem or if your child is just developing slowly.

An important service we provide is monitoring the dental development of your child’s dentition and make recommendations regarding baby teeth to encourage proper tooth eruption and jaw development during growth.

Baby teeth preserve space for permanent teeth until they are developed enough to come in. If the baby teeth come out too early, space can be lost causing crowding of the underlying permanent ones. At the other end, baby teeth that are not lost on time can force the permanent ones to come in crooked creating a more difficult orthodontic condition. If the teeth are crowded, your child may lose two baby teeth naturally to accommodate the eruption of a single larger permanent tooth. If baby teeth are lost prematurely due to an accident or decay, an orthodontist should be consulted to see if a space maintainer is needed.

Contact our office for a complimentary new patient exam to determine if your child’s teeth are developing normally. Feel free to ask questions or make comments in the area below.

Orthodontist Dr. Brian Chamberlain and the team at Supersmile Orthodontics want to make sure you understand sports drinks can damage healthy teeth. Actually, “erode” is more like the term, especially around the brackets while wearing braces. These sort of drinks erode your teeth by “demineralization,” or reducing the minerals in the outer tooth enamel and also the dentin (“dentin” is a yellowish, calcified tissue underneath the tooth enamel). It doesn’t affect the enamel underneath the braces covered by the brackets.

Dental erosion is common. It happens when you lose tooth structure since acids dissolve enamel and dentin. When your teeth are exposed to an acidic substance like a sports drink, soda, or candy, dental erosion is not far behind.

Everyone knows about candy and soda. Sports drinks, on the other hand, are not thrown into this group of tooth killers. And energy drinks and some flavored waters can be just as harmful if they contain citrus flavoring.

Are sports drinks the only source of dental erosion? Actually, there are many factors that contribute to dental erosion. As we age, our teeth naturally lose some enamel over time. Dental hygiene is also a big factor; if you keep your teeth clean and healthy, the acids and plaque are kept to a minimum and your teeth will last longer!

Remineralization, as the word suggests, is the process of building minerals needed for strong teeth. A tooth has biofilm coating for protection. But when your teeth are exposed to acids, your biofilm decreases and your teeth lose their surface minerals.

You are messing with your long term dental health when you drink a sports drink like Gatorade. Here is an online link to the ingredients in Gatorade. Water is the number one ingredient with sugar #2 and citric acid #3. This acid invites growth of acidogenic bacteria and leads to erosion of teeth. In addition to that, citric acid forms complexes with calcium and lowers the effectiveness of the biofilm. That is why sports drinks have been reported to cause three times as much damage to enamel compared to soft drinks. Phosphoric acid, which is a component of soft drinks, is not as harmful as citric acid.

Prevention

The simplest way to prevent sports drinks from damaging your teeth is to avoid them and drink water. For most physical activity, water is sufficient to keep you hydrated and fresh. Also, most sports drinks now offer a low-calorie alternative that has little or no sugar. While they might taste different and lack the “sugar boost” of their counterparts, sports drinks without citric acid and sugar are better for your teeth.

If you do drink soda or sports drinks, no sipping. The number of contacts with the teeth makes the problem worse. DO NOT BRUSH your teeth afterwards; it makes the problem much worse. The enamel is weak from the acid. It takes at least a half hour of saliva contact on the teeth to allow some recovery and repair before the enamel can withstand the harshness of the toothbrush. It is counterintuitive, but brushing after drinking acidic drinks causes the problems to worsen.

There is also a definite relationship between dental erosion and the consumption of acidic (sweet) drinks, as well as obesity and diabetes in both children and adults. Remember: it always pays to be mindful of what you take in to your body! Whether a solid food, candy, soda, or sports drink, take the necessary steps to prevent unwanted conditions in any form that can damage your teeth.

There are many sports drinks and flavored waters sold today. We recommend you take the time to read the labels. Check for sugar content and citric acid in the ingredients. If they are one of the top ingredients on the label we suggest you avoid them. It can save your teeth and improve your dental health over a lifetime. Please contact our office to schedule an appointment or to ask any questions you may have.

Your first discussion sets the stage for how your child accepts or rejects the news they require treatment at Supersmile Orthodontics. Allowing your apprehension and fears to surface can impact how your child responds.

Many different types of braces are available that will suit your child's personalized needs and reduce apprehension. Clear braces and Invisalign may be an option. Plus treatment time and discomfort is much less than in years past. But a child’s personal perception of orthodontic treatment can make them believe otherwise. For this reason it is important to be upbeat, positive, and supportive when they receive the news they may need treatment.

Focusing on the pros of undergoing treatment, such as a beautiful smile and improved dental health rather than the discomfort, inconvenience, and negative social stigma provides best results. Proper orientation by parents and our team creates a positive response when informing a child that orthodontic treatment is in their best interest.

At your child’s first visit to Supersmile Orthodontics, we will explain everything they need to know about their problem, why they need braces to improve the situation, and what type of braces are recommended. We do our best to put your child at ease, answer all their questions, and make them feel at home in our office. If you child has questions before the appointment you can’t answer, be honest: “I don’t know that, let’s ask Dr. Brian Chamberlain during the appointment”.

Wearing braces today is very common and you want your child to be excited about the treatment as well as understanding the importance of the cooperation required to create a beautiful smile. By the end of the appointment, our goal is to make your child jazzed about treatment rather than upset with the prospect of wearing braces. When offering positive feedback throughout the process, your child will be motivated every step of the way, making treatment as painless as possible while creating a good result.

If you have any concerns prior to the first visit that you feel may impact a negative response from your child, contact our office so we can discuss beforehand. Communication is the key to success on all levels. Let’s all work together to make your child’s initiation to orthodontics a good one.

Getting your kids to sit still for an entire meal is difficult, but is important when developing good eating habits that will benefit them throughout life. Dr. Brian Chamberlain would like to offer you a few tips that will encourage good eating habits for your kids that will benefit them as they move on in life.

Our kids are constantly bombarded with advertising for all kinds of media promoting junk foods which warp their perception of good eating habits. Educating our kids at an early age, along with teaching by example, is crucial to their develop at an early age.

Tip #1 – Schedule a time and space for an uninterrupted family meal

We understand this can be tough when everyone is going every which way, but eating together as a family has been proven to benefit the eating habits of kids and parents alike. Serving a healthy meal with correct portions at the dinner table, not only encourages communication which develops family ties and interpersonal skills it prevents overeating.

Taking time to eat a meal also allows our bodies to pay attention to our stomachs’ signals. Our bodies will tell us when we have eaten our fill, but watching TV while eating or engaging in another activity will distract children from recognizing they are no longer hungry, leading to overeating. Paying attention to what we eat and the size of portions is a cornerstone of diet programs. Taking the time to educate our kids while young, as well as watching our own portions, encourages a healthy lifestyle.

Television, video games, or other sources of distraction prohibit a structured eating time. A family meal together allows parents more control over the eating habits of children, reminding eaters to slow down, eat some vegetables with their meat, with their mouths closed… and so on.

Tip #2 Create meals that will appeal to both the taste buds and the body

For children, this usually means a portion of one of their favorites and one portion of veggies. This reinforces the need for a balanced diet that will remain strong into adulthood and it gives parents a bargaining chip. Try asking your child to eat one bite of veggies for every two bites of their favorite item. This method teaches children to focus on the flavor they prefer while still eating their vegetables.

Tip #3 Offer dips with veggies

Healthy foods such as carrots with ranch dressing, french onion dip or peanut butter and raisins with celery encourage good eating habits. Finger food is more fun than food they have to cut up to eat while encouraging kids to do what parents want all at the same time.

What tips can you offer busy families trying to eat together and share a healthy meal? Please leave your comments below.

Some parents at Supersmile Orthodontics ask if stopping a child’s nail biting habit is another positive effect of orthodontic treatment. Since nail biting can be harmful to braces by breaking brackets and bending wires that delays treatment, Dr. Brian Chamberlain feels that finding ways to curtail the habit is in our patient’s best interest.

Here are a few facts about nail biting… technically called “Onychophagia”.

• About 30 percent of children aged 7-10 bite their nails
• About 45 percent of teenagers bite their nails
• About 25 percent of young adults bite their nails
• Only about five percent of older adults bite their nails

Nail biting is considered to be a stress induced habit that peaks during the teenage years and usually is overcome as an adult. Besides the fact it can damage braces during treatment if the habit persists, it can be harmful in different ways:

• Your fingers are pretty much involved in almost everything you do and they are a walking germ fest. Your fingernails are twice as dirty as your fingers. When you bite your nails… do you need to read more?
• If nail biting is severe and involves the cuticles and breaks the skin, the germs transfer from the mouth to the open wound and can cause infection.
• It is also a poor reflection on a person’s image. No one likes to watch a person bite their nails, especially a teenager or adult. Bitten nails are far from attractive in comparison to manicured nails, especially in the business world.
• Teeth are not meant to chew all the time. Nail biting tends to keep your teeth in constant motion, which can wear them down faster than a non-nail biter's. It places stress on front teeth, can weaken them, and may contribute to the teeth becoming crooked or misaligned.

The good news is many orthodontic patients report that they are unable to continue their habit while wearing braces, which leads to breaking the habit. As your bite changes during treatment, their teeth no longer come together correctly. After a couple years of braces, patients usually lose the urge to bite their nails and generally overcome the problem.

Whether you have braces or starting orthodontic treatment, breaking the habit of nail biting is a good choice. It is healthier not to bite your nails and we suggest you keep them trimmed well during treatment. Contact our office with any questions or to schedule an appointment.

At Supersmile Orthodontics we sometimes see patients that are missing teeth because they failed to develop due to a family hereditary condition. Other times, the “missing” tooth isn’t really missing at all; it’s hidden underneath bone and gum tissue because it’s blocked or impacted by other teeth. In either situation, space must be created or closed, depending upon circumstances, to improve the bite and aesthetics. If not, then other teeth will gradually drift into the spaces, creating a bite problem and misalign teeth. Luckily, both problems can be treated with orthodontics.

Orthodontics is a special field of dentistry that focuses on diagnosing, preventing, and treating irregularities of the teeth, gums, jaw, and face. For a person with teeth “missing” or “blocked out”, orthodontics can do wonders. Teeth can be moved into their proper position with braces, and in the case of missing teeth, replacements added to fill the space with an implant or bridge to improve aesthetics.

However, in some severe circumstances it may not be possible to bring a severely impacted tooth into position. Oral surgery may be indicated to remove the impacted tooth to prevent damage to adjacent teeth and also require an implant or bridge to correct the problem.

Next time you see a person with a gap in their smile; don’t be so quick to jump to conclusions. Now that you know what may be to blame, you can kindly direct them to contact our office for a complimentary consultation to find out how we can help them fill that space!

At Supersmile Orthodontics in Las Vegas NV, some parents ask us… “Why are so many kids and adults wearing braces today?”

Orthodontic Studies report 70 percent of the US population could benefit from having their teeth and jaws realigned with orthodontic treatment. Ancient ancestors had perfect teeth and bites, as evidenced by fossil records. Then, about 10,000 years ago, malocclusions (bad bites) seem to have become more prevalent. Why? Human growth patterns saw teeth and jaws fail to accommodate teeth and jaw development as different ethnic and genetic backgrounds began to live together and populate.

In many cases, a patient’s need for orthodontic treatment arises from inheriting teeth and jaws from one parent that do not fit properly into the teeth and jaw size inherited from the other parent. As a result, crowding or spacing of teeth may occur as well as over or underdeveloped upper and lower jaws that don’t fit together properly in a functional bite.

Over the centuries, these inconsistencies produced the need for orthodontic treatment and are more prevalent today than ever, especially in the United States. The US is the leader of the free world and a melting pot for many different nationalities, mixing genetic backgrounds from many countries throughout the world.

The American Association of Orthodontics recommends that all children be seen by the age of 8 for an orthodontic evaluation. Many adults, whose families couldn’t afford treatment as a child or didn’t want to wear braces, are now considering straightening their teeth to improve their appearance and long term dental health. Orthodontic treatment is quite common now among adults with many new treatment options available that are less visible such as Invisalign, the “braceless” alternative to straight teeth

Feel free to contact our office for a complimentary consultation. Orthodontist Dr. Brian Chamberlain will inform you whether you or your child could benefit from orthodontic treatment, best treatment recommendations available to correct the individual problem, how long treatment will take, and discuss payment options to work within your budget.

At Supersmile Orthodontics our goal is to help you create the smile you want and deserve for yourself or your child.

A few different men are generally credited as the “Fathers of Orthodontics.” One was Norman W. Kingsley, a dentist from New Jersey who wrote a “Treatise on Oral Deformities” in 1880 that laid the groundwork for much of what was to come. Another was J.N. Farrar, who was the first dentist to come up with the idea of somehow using force at timed intervals to move teeth. But the father of orthodontics deserving the credit is dentist Edward Angle, whose “Treatment of Malocclusion of the Teeth” was published in 1907 and made great strides in the field. In addition, Angle founded the School of Orthodontia in 1910 and went on to design several of the first orthodontic devices, such as the ribbon arch and the edgewise appliance.

Braces, in their most basic form, came into being in the 1920’s, when a New Orleans dentist named George Crozat invented the “Crozat Brace.” This device was made of wire soldered together, and could be taken out. The Crozat Brace was very popular for over 40 years, before being replaced in the 60’s by the “tin grin” metal bands that encircled each tooth and could not be removed. Eventually these metal bands were replaced by barely visible ceramic or metal brackets that attach to the fronts of the teeth. Also, space-age thermally activated wires replaced the old stainless steel arch wires.

The newest step forward is “Invisalign.” This “braceless” alternative to straight teeth is barely visible to the eye. They move teeth using a series of computer generated and removable aligners. With these advancements, patients don’t have to come into the office as often as they used to. Also, orthodontics appliances today are much more comfortable to wear, patients experience less discomfort, and treatment can be completed in a much shorter period of time. What’s more, adults account for about a quarter of all orthodontic patients today.

There is no need to be embarrassed if you are getting your teeth straightened no matter what the age; children, adolescent, teen, or adults later in life—you’re in good company! As you can see, much has changed in the world of orthodontics over the years. And at Supersmile Orthodontics, there’s never been a better time or easier way to have a beautiful grin! Call our office today to find out how we can help you achieve the new smile you deserve.

In a nutshell, here’s what the study found after surveying 1,000 U.S. adults ages 18 and older.

Better social life if their smile was improved; 36 percent who are unhappy with their smile believe they would have a better social life if their smile was improved. This is true especially true among young adults. 48 percent of Americans ages 18 to 24 have untagged a picture of themselves on Facebook because they didn't like their smile.

Biggest dating turnoff among men and women? You got it… bad teeth. According to the study, 77 percent of women think crooked teeth are worse than a receding hairline in a potential love interest. The study also found that 22 percent of Americans who are unhappy with their smile think that better teeth would lead to a better love life.

On a professional level… 78 percent of Americans perceive adults with crooked teeth to be unsuccessful. Fourteen percent of those unhappy with their teeth felt that they might be missing out on a better job. What do you think?

At Supersmile Orthodontics, we don’t want you to be unhappy about your smile. We offer many options for you to explore to improve the aesthetics of your teeth. Also, orthodontics has come a long way with leading edge technology that reduces treatment time and discomfort. For those that are self conscious about wearing braces, we offer Invisalign® the clear alternative to straight teeth, as well as clear braces for those situations requiring traditional orthodontic treatment.

The first step to achieving the pearly whites you want and deserve is to contact our office for a complimentary consultation. We make orthodontics affordable and do our best to accommodate your busy lifestyle. All it takes is a phone call or email and you are on your way to realizing your 2013 New Year’s resolution. We will take it from there!