Arch wires are a critical tool for orthodontists. The type of wire you choose for your patient can directly determine how quickly your intervention progresses -- as well as the quality of the ultimate outcome.

There are many different arch wires on the market, each ideal for a different situation. Do you have a wide variety to choose from at your practice? If not, you might not be giving your patients the very best service possible.

As a dentist, you are well versed in the art of asking your patients how often they brush and floss. You’re also probably pretty good at making small talk to get through longer appointments and procedures.

You might want to add a few new questions to your dental conversations. Though these questions may be a little awkward, they can help you provide help to your patients who need it.

Ask your patients if they snore. Ask if their partner complains about their snoring. Ask if they sleep soundly through the night or are experiencing unusual fatigue in the mornings.

If the answer to any of these questions is “Yes”, you may be able to offer a solution in the form of a dental appliance for snoring, like the Lamberg Sleep-Well™ Appliance, the Aligner Sleep Appliance™(ASA), the Full-Breath, or any of a rapidly growing number of options.

Each of these appliances work to help open the patient’s airway during sleep – acting to moderate or even eliminate snoring and help with mild to moderate cases of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).

To start off 2015, the American Dental Association’s Health Policy Institute (HPI) released an analysis that showed dental care use by adults has not improved even with the enactment of the Affordable Care Act.

According to the analysis, the top two reasons adults they surveyed don’t intend to see a dentist in the next 12 months is because of the cost and they don’t see the need for preventative care. Respondents to the HPI survey also cited lack of transportation, anxiety, and difficulty finding a dentist who will take Medicaid payments as reasons for foregoing a checkup.

The HPI suggests several additional reasons for low dental compliance, including the fact that the Affordable Care Act does not require dental coverage and that Medicaid policy deprioritizes dental care. One bright note of the study is that the HPI found that the Affordable Care Act did improve children’s access to dental care.

We all know that dentists specialize in helping you keep your teeth healthy and beautiful, but what about your lips? If you tend to gnaw on your lips when you are nervous, anxious, or bored, then your lips are probably in need of some help! A lip biting habit can leave lips full of painful sores and scabs, not to mention unpleasant to look at and especially to kiss!

If you want your lips to be healthy, beautiful, and oh-so-kissable, it’s time to get rid of that lip biting habit. Your dentist can help! He or she can actually work with a third-party dental lab, like SML Global to manufacture a personalized dental appliance that fits over your teeth and makes it impossible for you to chew or bite on your lips. The device looks a little odd, but it can help you break your unconscious habit and allow your lips to finally heal. This device also works great with children who bite their lips.

Contact your dentist today! 
 

You may think that your smile is fine…or fixed -- especially if you had braces as a kid. But then why does it seem like your teeth are still changing over the years? Perhaps one tooth is being crowded out. Maybe one is tilting forward more and more. The truth is, your teeth are always shifting, even as an adult.

One of the primary reasons is simply lifestyle habits. If you like to chew on the end of pens or are prone to grinding your teeth at night, the long-term pressure on your teeth can slowly cause them to shift. Another common cause is gum disease, which can weaken the bone that holds your teeth in place. 

SML Global promotes education about the use of dental appliances.  This is volume one of a two volume learning process.

This practical guide to effective treatment with orthodontic and orthopedic appliances features step-by-step chair-side procedural photography -- including appliance selection and adjustment – and provides information on ensuring healthy TMJ and achieving long-term stability. Emphasis: concrete advice for immediate application in the active practice.

If you think back, you may be able to remember what it felt like to wake up after a long night of deep, uninterrupted sleep. You felt refreshed, invigorated, and motivated. Your mind was clear and sharp, and you could easily navigate all the different twists and turns your job threw at you.

If you are one of the estimated 18 million Americans who suffer from sleep apnea, it may have been a long, long time since you woke up feeling refreshed.

Oxygen-debt fatigue and exhaustion makes every aspect of life hard, but it can definitely affect your job performance. You just can’t be as productive when you can barely keep your eyes open, and forget about creative solutions to difficult challenges when your mind is mired in fog.

If you want to be better at your job, you don’t need to attend another management leadership conference…you need to deal with your sleep apnea.  

TAP® system provides a comprehensive therapy that yields both high clinical success as well as outstanding reports of patient satisfaction. Clinical Studies Results from clinical studies provide the best information to help the dentist choose an appliance. Studies show that a good appliance will provide excellent treatment results, maintaina low morbidity rate, and still remain a viable economical alternative to other treatment options.

Recent articles in the medical and dental literature have made it clear that, as a dentist, you can provide a role in the treatment of both Snoring and Obstructive Sleep Apnea through the use of oral appliances. In fact, in response to an overwhelming demand, more and more dentists are expanding their practices to treat sleep- disordered breathing. The TAP® appliance was designed with the principles of airway management in mind.   

Your child’s braces are finally coming off! Excitement is high…until the orthodontist explains that your child will still have to wear some form of final retention device to maintain the tooth straightening that has been accomplished. As soon as those braces come off, teeth can begin a slow migration back to their old positions. A final retainer helps keep the teeth in place so they stay in their new positions.

The good news? Your child will likely get to pick and personalize from many different custom retainer colors and designs.
  

Chronic bruxism may lead to sensitive, decayed, fractured, loose or missing teeth. Grinding or clenching breaks down enamel and can eventually wear teeth down. The absence of enamel makes it easier for bacteria to penetrate the softer part of teeth and produce cavities. As long as bruxism continues, the situation worsens.

Successful management of bruxism depends firstly upon determining whether or not it is caused by a sleep disorder. If this is the case, treat the sleep problem first. Once it has been confirmed that there is no sleep dysfunction, the focus should be on minimizing the abrasion of tooth surfaces by the wearing of a dental splint on the individual’s upper or lower teeth.  When you consider the need tor interceptive care — not just for children, but adults as well — the message is clear:

The essence of Splint Therapy (and this discussion) is that potentially EVERYBODY NEEDS IT.

SPLINT THERAPY and the TALON^® SPLINT

Splint therapy is often the means of treatment which, initiated early, can provide your patients with the best long term care, save them money…and make you some, as well. The dentist plays a key role at three procedural levels: screening, diagnosis, and treatment.