Blog Archives - New CG Orthodontics

The Specialized Treatment You Deserve

You trust your heart to a cardiologist, your eyes to an ophthalmologist, and your skin to a dermatologist. Like these specialists who study their specialty areas after their general medical education, orthodontists devote 2-3 additional years of study to orthodontics. And that is after 4 years of undergraduate studies and 4 years of dental school! But just like their medical counterparts, orthodontists focus their practices to their specialty area: straightening teeth, aligning jaws, and creating beautiful smiles.

You may only see six crooked front teeth. The orthodontist, however, sees the cause of crooked teeth. Orthodontists use their education, experience and expertise to delve deep to discover the root of your orthodontic problem, whether that be the teeth, jaws, or soft tissues of the surrounding face. Armed with a diagnosis that takes all factors into account, orthodontists can plan your customized solution.

There are a lot of treatment options available, from clear aligners to modern braces. They each have their uses, but only an orthodontist has the specialized knowledge to identify and plan for all the variables in your mouth. Just as each smile is unique, so is the treatment option. Your orthodontist has the knowledge and full range of tools to create a customized treatment plan to address your orthodontic needs.

Sure, you want a beautiful smile. Your orthodontist wants that for you, too – and treatment results that last.

Your smile deserves the best. Call/text or visit us online to schedule your complimentary consultation today!

How to keep your kids SMILING!

Good dental health starts with you—the parents! And it’s simple. Leading by example, practicing good oral hygiene yourself demonstrates to your kids that taking care of your teeth is important.

We as dental professionals understand that taking care of the smallest members of the family is nothing short of a full-time job. It comes with a laundry list of jobs, including laundry itself. And the cleaning unfortunately does not stop there. Keeping your child’s teeth clean is just as important and can feel just as time consuming.

If you are not certain about the best ways to take of your children’s teeth, you are not alone! Thankfully, there are some easy ways to care for your child’s teeth that will get them started on the right path to long-term oral health. For babies with their first teeth, using wet gauze is a great way to introduce them to an oral hygiene regimen.

But there are so many other questions that arise. When do I first visit the dentist? When do I start brushing their teeth with toothpaste? Do I use a fluoridated toothpaste? And so on. The first step is making an appointment to see your local pediatric dentist.

According to the American Dental Association and the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, a child should visit the dentist six months after they get their first tooth, or no later than their first birthday. Although that may sound early, tooth decay can happen with your baby’s first tooth. Taking your child to the dentist by their first birthday is the best way to catch any problems early, introduce them to a dental office and answer your questions about their oral health and development.

As leading pediatric orthodontists in Bucks County, we believe that daily attention to teeth must start as soon as teeth erupt and continue into adulthood. This will help avoid cavities and keep your kids smiling today, tomorrow, and into the future.

Feel free to join our Facebook page and follow us on Instagram for more information about healthy oral habits, tips, and tricks for daily oral care. Providing the right care for your child’s smile doesn’t have to be hard if you have access to the right support!

There are thousands of ways to move the muscles in our faces, all of which serve to express one of the six basic emotions: anger, disgust, enjoyment, fear, sadness, and surprise.

And the most powerful and profound facial expression of them all? The smile.

Smiling is universally considered to be a way we display joy. It can communicate our internal world and be a welcoming sign to new people on the outside.

When we smile, our muscles can send feedback to our faces and help boost our mood. Feeling down? Smile! Need a boost of energy? Smile!

Orthodontics supports your oral health, but just as importantly, your overall wellbeing. And orthodontics is not just for kids. There are many options for improving an adult’s teeth and there is no age limit when it comes to improving your smile!

Healthy Teeth Lead to a Healthy Life

You probably are already aware that you are going to be keeping your set of adult teeth for the rest of your life. Since you cannot replace them, you should do your best to keep them healthy.

Misaligned teeth can cause many different problems. Crowded teeth can be more prone to tooth decay, gum disease, and difficulty eating. Misaligned teeth are harder to clean and have even been linked to potential heart problems in the future.

Orthodontics is essential to maintain strong, healthy teeth and a strong healthy you!

Attending a myriad of Zoom meetings is a semi-permanent reality for professionals who have shifted to the home office culture over the past year. Needless to say, having a virtual platform has allowed people to conduct business and socialize with friends safely. However, according to recent surveys, people have become increasingly conscious of their teeth during these close-up conferences, which has manifested in a surge of adults seeking orthodontic treatment in the past year.

Unmasking the perfect smile is not only restricted to those who are on daily Zoom calls. Living behind a mask continues to provide the perfect opportunity to feel more confident about wearing orthodontic appliances. Whether Invisalign clear aligners, or more traditional fixed appliances, adults and patients alike are not missing the opportunity to discretely obtain the confident smile they have always dreamed of.

Maybe it’s the flexibility of the workday or a little extra time without the daily commute, but the pandemic has prompted many of us to stop procrastinating and get things done. Straightening your teeth may just be another project you’re finally able to tackle. And getting braces is a project you can do for yourself to not only improve your self-confidence, but your health.

Did you know that a misaligned bite can cause headaches and fractured teeth? Or crooked teeth are more difficult to keep clean and more prone to cavities? Braces improve your oral health and, if you’ve spent years feeling self-conscious about your smile, they will improve your mental health as well. Wouldn’t it feel great finally smile proudly when someone takes your picture instead of hiding your teeth?

And now you surely won’t be alone. Twenty-five percent of our patients are now over the age of 18! So whether you are 4 or 94, you are never too young or too old to smile.

If you’d like to learn more about adult orthodontic treatment and what treatment looks like for you, contact our office today!

Palate Expanders: The When, Why, Where, and How?

Ever wonder what a palate expander was? Or why they are used? Or simply wonder why your friend’s daughter needs one and yours doesn’t?

Well, did you know that orthodontics is more than just straight teeth? As orthodontists, we are specialists in orthodontics and dentofacial orthopedics. Monitoring and guiding facial and jaw growth is an important part of our practice and an effective way to treat certain malocclusions.

As you probably know, orthodontics (“ortho” – straight, “dontics” – teeth) simply means straight teeth. However, dentofacial (“dento” – teeth, “facial” – face) orthopedics (“ortho” – straight, “ped” – child) is most likely something new. Broken down, we see it is this extra specialization that allows us, the orthodontist, to recognize and re-align discrepancies in growth and development of the jaws and the resulting malocclusion (“mal” – bad, “occlusion” – bite).

This is where the palatal expander comes in: taking advantage of a unique time during which the dynamic process of growth and development can be positively influenced.

The Where and How:

The upper jaw and palate (the roof of your mouth) are actually the combination of two bones that come together and fuse in the middle called a suture. A suture is similar, but not synonymous to a growth plate. Fortunately, this fusion is not complete until a little after puberty (before age 12) and provides the perfect window of opportunity to exert influence.

The palate expander does just what the appliance indicates – increases the width of the palate. The gentle force of the expander separates the two bones of the palate where they join. The tension on the suture causes the body to grow new bone, and it is this increased palatal width that ultimately creates more room for the teeth.

The When and Why:

Orthopedic expansion of the maxilla is often indicated when the upper jaw is too narrow. The typical presentation includes a crossbite malocclusion, narrow smile, and crowding causing insufficient room for the adult teeth to erupt into proper alignment. When a tooth hasn’t come in and is potentially blocked from coming in (impacted), widening the upper jaw can allow it to erupt into its proper position on its own, preventing the need for a surgical procedure in the future.

Expanding the upper jaw has other benefits: It can broaden the smile, it can eliminate the need for adult teeth to be removed to create space for alignment, and it can also improve breathing if your child suffers from signs of obstructive sleep apnea.

Just like you wouldn’t skip a wellness check at the pediatrician, you shouldn’t skip an early trip to the orthodontist. A visit to your orthodontist will help keep your child’s oral health and development in check. And just like most things in life, dental health is more manageable if you get ahead of it today.

Timing is everything – even when it comes to your child’s orthodontic treatment. “Early” treatment, also called “interceptive” treatment, simply means treatment that is performed while some baby teeth are still present.

The American Association of Orthodontists (AAO) recommends that your child’s first check-up with an orthodontist be around age 7. Why age 7? By then, your child has enough permanent teeth for an orthodontist to evaluate the developing teeth and the jaws. As orthodontists, we are trained to spot subtle problems even in young children that your pediatric or family dentist may not.

Even if treatment doesn’t begin at age seven, which is often the case, early orthodontic evaluations provide a wealth of information into the alignment of a child’s jaw, and gives us, the orthodontist, the ability to evaluate your child’s development.

There are generally three outcomes of an initial check-up.

(1) No treatment is expected to be necessary

(2) Treatment may be needed in the future, so the child will be followed periodically while the face and jaws continue to grow.

(3) There is a problem that lends itself to early treatment.

Early treatment can be in a patient’s best interests if their problem is one that could become more serious over time if left untreated. The goal of early treatment is to intercept the developing problem, eliminate the cause, and provide adequate space for incoming permanent teeth.

The kinds of problems where we may recommend treating while a child still has some baby teeth include:

Underbites – when the lower front teeth are ahead of the upper front teeth
Crossbites – when the jaw shifts to one side
Very crowded teeth
Excessively spaced teeth
Extra or missing teeth
Thumb, finger, or pacifier sucking that is affecting the teeth or jaw growth

They key take away is some orthodontic problems may be easier to correct if they are found and treated early. Waiting until all the permanent teeth have come in, or until facial growth is nearly complete, may make correction of some problems more difficult.

To give your child the best opportunity for a healthy, beautiful smile, visit us today. No referral needed! Our initial consultation is at no cost and with no obligation. Just remember, timing is everything.

If you have an emergency with a protruding wire, there are a variety of ways to take care of this right from the convenience of your own home!

Poking wires always occur at the worst times. Usually right before the weekend or just as your about to leave for vacation. With these tips, you can temporarily fix the protruding wire and provide yourself with some much needed relief until you can visit us for a permanent solution.

Orthodontic Wax: This is always our first recommended solution. It is the easiest tool to create a smooth surface over the wire. Look for our previous blog post on how to properly apply wax!

Tweezers: If the wire has slipped out of the molar bracket, you may be able to use tweezers to slide the wire back into the bracket slot. Once you have bent the wire back, use orthodontic wax to keep the wire in place until you are able to visit us again.

Nail Clippers/ Wire Cutters: This option is a last resort, but a great way to provide comfort in times of need. To clip the wire, pull back your cheek, dry the area, and with the help of an adult, carefully clip the poking wire. After clipping the wire, be sure to apply wax to hold it in place.

Don’t forget, we are always here to help. You can call or text us pictures directly to our office number (267.397.3354). We can answer any questions and guide you through these steps!

Align Technology first introduced Invisalign to the market in 1999 after recent advances in digital technology enabled the creation of sequential removable aligners to move teeth. Once novel, Invisalign is now a digital orthodontic appliance used to treat millions of patients. Invisalign, however, is not the only company to use this technology. Many companies are now utilizing this technology allowing your orthodontist to select the appliance that works best for you.

How does it work?

Invisalign, or the generic term clear aligners, are customized appliances created by the aid of sophisticated 3D imaging and animation tools that enable virtual simulation of tooth movements. Tooth movements resemble a filmstrip, and each frame is called a stage. Each stage corresponds to a set of clear plastic aligner trays. As the trays are worn by the patient, every tray pushes the teeth .25-.33mm at a time. Each tray or aligner is composed of clear, removable polyurethane, which provides esthetic and more comfortable appliance wear experience than the traditional fixed appliances like braces. This unique and esthetic alternative to tooth movement continues to recruit more patients to orthodontic therapy.

Virtually invisable trays gradually straighten your teeth over the course of treatment

The importance of using an expert

The weakness of this system and software is that it assumes tooth movements in the patient will mirror the virtual treatment. It hardly happens perfectly with every patient every time. Yet, some clinicians are very successful in producing the desired result whereas, the rest of the world maybe disappointed. Thus, orthodontists, dentists, or at home aligner systems who plan to use clear aligners must rely heavily on their past clinical experience, highlighting the importance of seeking treatment by an expert. Fortunately, both Drs. George and Cogan are not only Board-Certified Orthodontists, but experts in the field of Invisalign and clear aligner treatment. Together, they have treated thousands of Invisalign cases and are confident that our office can provide you with the smile you have always dreamed of.

Give us a call today and let us help you achieve the happier, healthier you.

As you may have heard, the Department of Health in PA has issued revised guidance, allowing dental offices to resume required procedures with new protocols in place. We are therefore, happy to announce that as of May 18, 2020, we are scheduling certain necessary appointments once again. With our long-awaited re-opening comes new office policies and appointment procedures. Rest assure, while many things have changed, one thing has remained the same:

Our commitment for your safety.

What will your appointment look like? Our office has instituted the vast amount of infection control recommendations made by the American Dental Association (ADA), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to ensure your safety, our safety, and the safety of the community. Below we have listed the many new procedures and policies in place.

Increasing how often we clean and sanitize all common areas, including but not limited to door handles, countertops, and sinks, to every hour
All team members adhere to a daily wellness screening and temperature check upon arrival to the office.
All team members are wearing facemasks and washing their hands every hour at minimum
PPE for our clinical team includes: disposable gowns, surgical facemasks, N-95 during all aerosol procedures, face shields and gloves
BioNet Air purification units and new central air filtration were installed
As always, patient chairs are cleaned and sanitized between every patient.
Patients will be placed at every other chair, or in one of our semi private rooms in order to follow social distancing guidelines.
Appointments will be managed to allow for social distancing between patients. That might mean that you’re offered fewer options for scheduling your appointment during the ongoing pandemic.

You will also see some changes when it is time for your next appointment. We made these changes to help protect our patients and staff. For example:

Patients are asked to BRUSH TEETH PRIOR to their appointment – our brushing station will be closed
We have now implemented CURBSIDE CHECK IN. Upon arrival, STAY IN YOUR VEHICLE and dial our office phone number.
Entry is limited to the PATIENT ONLY for routine appointments– our waiting room is closed-– please let us know ahead of time if you feel it is absolutely necessary to accompany your child into the office.
A team member will perform a verbal WELLNESS SCREENING directed to our patient and anyone accompanying them into the building.

A team member, will then come out to your car to escort you/your child into the building where your temperature will be taken.
A FACE MASK must be worn by every individual entering the building and gloves if possible.
You will be asked to SANITIZE YOUR HANDS and then led to the sink to RINSE WITH PEROXYL prior to being seated in the operatory.
The clinical staff, clothed in the proper PPE will perform the scheduled and recommended procedures

Upon completion, if requested, your child can use their own phone to facetime or call you chair side to allow our clinical team to update you on your child’s treatment. Otherwise a team member will discuss today’s appointment curbside.

We hope that all the necessary precautions and new safety measures in place will provide reassurance and address any concerns you may have about continuing or seeking your orthodontic treatment.

We look forward to seeing you again and are happy to answer any questions you may have about the steps we take to keep you, our team, and our community safe in our practice.

Thank you for partnering with us. We value your trust and loyalty and look forward to welcoming back our patients, neighbors, and friends.

Anyone who has ever had braces has experienced the nuisance of a pokey wire. No matter what we as orthodontists do, it is an unfortunate inevitability. There are a few different reasons why this may happen. First, as your teeth begin to straighten, the wire has a tendency to shift. Most times you won’t even notice. However, if the wire shifts far enough, you will begin to feel that discomfort in the back of your cheek. Another common reason for the wire to start poking is when the orthodontist is closing spaces or gaps between your teeth. As those spaces close, the arch or perimeter of your teeth decreases. There is only one place for this wire to slide, and that is in the back of your mouth.

Fortunately, orthodontic wax is a great and easy way to rid yourself of any discomfort until you can see your orthodontist for your next appointment. Below, we describe the proper steps to use wax to maximize its ability to provide you relief.

Step 1: Wash your hands and brush your teeth. We want to reduce the introduction of bacteria.
Step 2: Shape a small ball of wax. Pull off a little piece of wax from the pack and roll it with your fingers into a ball shape for at least 5 seconds to warm the wax. A blob the size of a popcorn kernel will usually do the job. Too much wax may result in it falling off.
Step 3: Locate the painful areas. Wax can cover up any area where sharp or rough metal is irritating your inner lips and cheeks. This can be braces or wires poking far in the back of your mouth.
Step 4: Dry off your braces. Dry with a tissue. The drier the area, the longer the wax will stick.
Step 5: Press the wax over the painful area and rub it in place. Using your thumb or forefinger, press the ball of wax over the bracket or wire causing you pain.
Step 6: Allow the wax to work: Once you applied the wax, your mouth should heal itself quickly. The wax barrier stops the irritation and allows the mouth the time to heal any sore spots.

Yardley

Richboro

Why Choose an Orthodontist vs a Dentist?

When to visit the dentist? When to brush your child’s teeth?

Orthodontics: Creating healthy teeth and a healthy you!

An Increased Demand for Adult Orthodontic Treatment

Palate Expanders: The Richboro, Yardley, and Newtown Guide

When is early orthodontic treatment needed? And why?

Fixing a Pokey Orthodontic Wire

What is Invisalign? And how does it work?

Orthodontic Appointments during the COVID-19 Pandemic

How to Apply Orthodontic Wax

Yardley

Richboro

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