If you lucked out in the gene pool and developed a good set of teeth, then your experience with the dentist may have only consisted of bi-yearly cleanings, x-rays, and maybe an admonishment to floss more often. However, your dentist is actually capable of much more than just cleaning your teeth.

Your dentist can fill cavities, perform root canals, put in crowns, and solve a mouthful of problems with perfect-fit dental appliances made just for you. Dental appliance manufacturing ensures that custom fit in everything from corrective splints to protective mouth guards to life-saving sleep apnea devices.

Oftentimes, your dentist does not create these devices in the office. Rather, dental appliance manufacturing is performed by a third party dental lab, like SML Global, using x-rays, bite molds, and measurements submitted by your dentist.

Hopefully, you won’t experience any unpleasant dental issues that require a custom oral device, but if you do, you can be sure that your dentist  -- and SML -- will create an appliance that will fit you perfectly.

Every child is prone to developing unhealthy habits to deal with stress, boredom, or anxiety. Some children bite their nails or suck their thumbs. Others chew on their lips or even pull out eyebrow hairs. If your child bites her cheeks, you may wonder how to help her.

Cheek biting isn’t just an unpleasant habit, it’s also painful. It can make eating torturous…and open mouth wounds can prove an invitation to infection and serious health consequences.

There is something you can do. It starts with a visit to your dentist. Your dentist can work with a dental manufacturing lab like SML Global to create a customized oral device. e.g. the  Cheek Biting Inhibitor U , for your child.This particular advice is completely painless and places shields within your child’s mouth that make it impossible for her to bite her cheeks. Over time, the habit will become a thing of the past. 

Back in the day, the Upper Jackson Appliance was one of the very first removal expansion appliances on the market. For many years it was highly popular and provided consistent results for patients.

The Upper Jackson’s time in the dental spotlight was not meant to last. Along came the simple-to-adjust expansion screw, which was much easier for dentists to use. The new expansion screw became the popular kid on the block, but does that mean the Upper Jackson must fade into obscurity?

Actually, the Upper Jackson may still be a relevant appliance to keep in your repertoire. It is especially useful when different levels of arch development are required. The Upper Jackson can be adjusted (at the body wire) with 139 Bird Beak Plier or (at the acrylic extension) with three-prong pliers.

Don’t overlook the welcome simplicity of the Upper Jackson Appliance.  

All orthodontists have experienced the frustration of taking a young patient through treatment, developing a beautiful, straight smile…and then having the aligned teeth become mis-aligned due to tongue thrusting issues.

Extremely common in young children, tongue thrusting is, in fact, the reason so many kids end up at your office in the first place. As an orthodontist, you’ll want to search for indicators of tongue thrusting in all patients before starting treatment. Early detection makes alternative or combined treatment possible…and can significantly mitigate straight-smile frustration.

The two most popular forms of tongue thrusting treatment are MyoFunctional Therapy or use of an oral appliance. If the child is not responsive to the MyoFunctional Therapy, an oral appliance may be the way to go. Contact SML today for more on the advantages and effectiveness of appliance therapy – and for a lab near you. 

Sleep is a precious commodity, and most Americans already aren’t getting the seven to eight hours of sleep a night that most health professionals recommend. Chronic lack of sleep can lead to mental and physical fatigue, poor memory retention, high blood pressure, and even increased anxiety or depression…and if your spouse’s snoring is impeding your sleep, he or she could be putting your health at risk!

Heavy, loud snoring is not natural. It indicates that your spouse is having trouble breathing throughout the night and may have a condition called sleep apnea. It means that not only are you not getting a good night’s sleep, but your spouse isn’t getting any either.

Don’t just accept a future of no shut-eye. Encourage your spouse to visit a doctor or a dentist for help with snoring. Your dentist may suggest a special sleep device, like the Aligner Sleep Appliance™, Narval™CC, or the Lamberg Sleep-Well™ Appliance -- all offered by SML. Look at it this way…when you address your spouse’s snoring, you can finally get the healthy night’s sleep your body needs! 

Team Engagement Strategies for Treating More Dental Sleep Patients 

The secrets to empowering your team to find and engage sleep patients.

Orthodontics has come a long way in the past 30 years. Back then, it was common for orthodontists to place a band on every tooth in the mouth when attaching braces. Recently, however, more effective bonding materials have allowed doctors to place brackets on teeth without the need for bands. The exception is molars. Even today, many orthodontists prefer to place molar bands on a patient. Why is this?

The molars are a very active part of the mouth – it’s where you do almost all of your chewing. This can put a lot of stress on brackets. Molar bands can increase the stability of the bracket so they are less likely to break off. They also give orthodontists an area to attach additional appliances if necessary, like headgear.

Even as bonding materials continue to improve, it looks like molar bands are here to stay, at least for a little while longer! 

Even as bonding materials continue to improve, it looks like molar bands are here to stay, at least for a little while longer!   

We don’t think about it much, but it is pretty amazing how each side of the body is an almost perfect mirror image of the other. Only when something goes wrong, like a cleft palette, do we realize how important facial symmetry really is. A surprising number of people develop a condition called “mandibular hypertrophy,” which is when one side of the jaw overdevelops during a growth spurt.

Mandibular hypertrophy creates a visual asymmetry in the jaw, which can vary in severity. While this alone is enough to make any growing teen self-conscious, the condition can also create health complications. It may impair chewing, place stress on the temporomandibular joint, and affect the individual’s speech.

If a parent notices a facial asymmetry in their growing child, it is time for a visit to the dentist. Depending on the exact issue, the dentist may be able to manufacture a special dental appliance to modify the mandibular hypertrophy, or, in more severe cases, an oral surgeon may need to perform surgery. 

Contact Us about dental appliances.

Not every patient comes to your office with dental health insurance. Often these non-insured patients present the most severe dental issues (as many are unlikely to make an appointment until something goes wrong) and are the least able to pay for pricey procedures and appliances. As a dentist, you want to help all of your patients, so is there a way that you can offer them low cost appliances if they need something like a space maintainer,  Schwarz appliance, incline plane or something else?

The best way to offer your patients low cost appliances is to work with a well-established and local dental laboratory. A dental laboratory processes a continual flow of dental appliance orders and can cut costs due to a high volume.

It never hurts to shop around to see if you can find a dental lab near you that can offer better rates than your current lab or your in-house lab. Even a small price cut may make the difference between whether a non-insured patient can afford an appliance or not!

Contact SML Global today to get price quotes for a nearby dental lab in our network.  

Everyone suffers from headaches from time to time, but up to 12% of Americans experience migraines on a regular basis. Migraines are like headaches on steroids. They can cause blinding pain, nausea, and significant debilitation until they pass. In all likelihood, many different factors play a role. One of those factors, surprisingly, may be your teeth.

The temporomandibular joint (TMJ) is the hard-working joint that allows your jaw to open and close – for chewing, biting, eating and speaking. Misaligned teeth or a nighttime grinding habit can put harmful pressure on your TMJ, which can, over time lead to temporomandibular dysfunction (TMD) -- a condition that can result in facial discomfort, neck pain, and, yes, headaches and migraines.

If you suspect that your headaches or migraines might be caused by TMD, see your dentist. If you grind you teeth while sleeping (as many do, your dentist can manufacture a customized dental splint or mouth guard to treat the habit. If your TMD is caused my misaligned teeth, there are appliances designed to correct the condition and alleviate your painful headaches.