What Easter Candy is OK to Eat for Kids with Braces?

April 14th, 2014

Just when you thought it was safe to eat again after avoiding the problematic fall and winter holiday treats, one last challenge crops up: the Easter basket. Many children are being fitted for orthodontia before adolescence, and most will be disappointed by the contents of a regular Easter basket. Marshmallow peeps, jelly beans, hard candy – it’s a minefield for kids with braces. So how can parents make sure their kids don’t miss out during this holiday?

One of the simplest ways is to forgo sweets altogether. Kids are so surrounded by sugar these days, it’s almost overkill to add more for special occasions. Instead create themed baskets for whatever interests your child may have: soccer, cooking, cats, Legos, or crafting. Or make baskets filled with other kinds of treats – tickets to a favorite movie or a local museum or family coupons for time spent playing board games, picnics, or hikes. Experiences with family or friends will be remembered far longer than candy.

If ditching the sugar seems too radical, homemade treats are another way to go. One benefit of making things from scratch is that you avoid the additives and preservatives that commercially made sweets have – and you can control the amount of sugar or other sweetener included. Another advantage is that baking is a great activity to do with older kids who may have passed the Easter basket stage. Choose a time when your younger children are out and about to teach an older tween or teen how to work a mixer and an oven.

Finally, there are some sweets that are orthodontia safe for kids with braces. Chocolate is fine, as long as it doesn’t contain nuts or caramels. Feel free to include M&Ms, chocolate eggs, or rice crispy treats. And the traditional Easter Bunny will taste just as good if you soften it up a bit and dip a graham cracker into it.

Finally, remember that spring pastels look great on braces this time of year. Pink, blue, yellow, and light green elastics help create a celebratory mood for this time of year when everything comes to life again. It’s always fun to accessorize your braces along with the seasons.

Swan Orthodontics wishes all of you in Grand Rapids, Michigan a very Happy Easter.

Kids Braces Are Not So Bad When You Can Choose the Colors and Shapes

March 14th, 2014

By: Dr. Kathryn Swan

From a kid’s perspective the best change in orthodontic practice in the past several decades has been the introduction of colored elastic ties. No longer do all braces look the same on everyone; they can be individualized now to reflect a patient’s personality and preferences.

The elastic ligature tie is the small band that goes around the bracket to hold the wire in place. Once all ties were the same neutral color, but now kids can choose different colors every month because the elastic ties must be removed at every regular checkup for their braces to be adjusted. After the wires are changed or adjusted, new elastic ties are put on with a hemostat.

It’s at this point that kids get to have their say about their braces. They can choose Christmas colors during the holidays, orange and black for halloween, leaf colors in the fall, florals in the spring, school colors, team colors – whatever feels fun. They can even choose glow in the dark ties for spookier summer campouts or sleepover fun.

The option of switching out the colors in their mouths to show holiday or school spirit goes a long way towards kids accepting or even “embracing” orthodontia. The embarrassment their parents remember about having a “brace face” or a “railroad mouth” is lessened because braces are now so common and because swapping out colors gives kids something to get excited about and look forward to. Sometimes they even blog about their experience with braces so that other kids with braces can see the color choices they made and the progress their teeth have made because of the orthodontia.

What colors would be best for you? That depends on a number of factors including skin tone. People often innately know which colors flatter them because they feel more attractive wearing them. People with darker skin tones may find that power colors like orange and fuschia look great, whereas lighter-skinned people may gravitate towards jewel tones and pastels. But if you are fair skinned and love orange, don’t fret – if you don’t love the way you look in orange ties, you only have to wear them until your next checkup. Every month is a new opportunity to decide what you think best suits you.

Colors that can be less flattering on many people are black, white, and yellow. Black is problematic because it can make it look like things are stuck in your teeth. Very pale elastic ties sometimes make teeth look less white. But again, nothing is permanent, and some kids love to make the kind of impression that comes with extreme color choices.

Another option kids have to individualize their experience with orthodontia is opting for brackets in different shapes. Stainless steel WildSmiles brackets come in balls, flowers, hearts, stars, footballs, and Super-Diamonds. They can even be mixed and matched, if you can’t decide between soccer balls and footballs or hearts and flowers. Make your mouth into a rainbow of shapes and colors, if you like.

So if you’re concerned about how you will look in braces, don’t be. You’ll look different every month, and the choice of color combinations is yours. Match with your friends or go with school colors – it will be fun!

Why do people have crooked teeth?

February 19th, 2014

By: Dr. Kathryn Swan

Have you ever wondered why humans have crooked teeth? You occasionally see pets with overbites or underbites, but most animals have well spaced teeth that work well without any medical attention. So why do humans have so many problems with their teeth spacing?

As with any aspect of human development, there are a number of theories. Some anthropologists believe the shift from hunting and gathering societies to more sedentary farming societies caused the human jaw to evolve, becoming shorter, less jutting, and weaker. A shorter jaw means, of course, less space for teeth – which leads to a number of types of malocclusion. Other researchers believe that these malocclusions are not necessarily a result of thousands of years of jaw evolution, but come about because of diet.

In the early part of the 20th century, a dentist named Weston Price became concerned because his patients, particularly his younger patients, were presenting with more and more seriously problematic malocclusions. He wondered whether these malformations were nutritional in nature, and he traveled the world and found that, particularly in isolated regions, tribal peoples in non-Western cultures seemed to have fewer facial and jaw deformities and better spaced and healthier teeth (as well as fewer overall health problems). He theorized that people in Western cultures were not getting adequate exposure to fat soluble activator vitamins, specifically A, D3, and K2, and their deficient diets caused a number of common, and painful, physical conditions, including dental problems.

Weston Price’s research had its detractors, many of whom thought his reasoning biased or simplistic and accused him of quackery or overenthusiastic dietary evangelism, other anthropologists point to diet as a cause of malformations. Robert Corruccini’s studies on differing groups of people led him to the conclusion that modern foodways, specifically the softer, more processed nature of processed food, led to the increasing frequency of dental problems in Western cultures.

“The older people whose diets contained hard, chewy foods suffered little malocclusion, whereas the younger residents, with the softer diets, had ever increasing problems.”

Many dentists and orthodontists also caution parents about prolonged bottle feeding, thumb sucking, and pacifier use. Any of these can lead to dental malformations and should be monitored.

Ultimately, there isn’t one reason why people have crooked teeth, but it would seem that the modern Western diet has done significant damage to tooth formation. Although identifying that as a cause isn’t going to be much comfort to a teenager with a severe overbite, it is still interesting, and researching the connection between diet and dental health may cause people to make changes that could keep them out of the dentist’s (or orthodontist’s) chair in the future.

How to Protect your Braces in Winter Sports

January 30th, 2014

By: Dr. Kathryn Swan

It’s now that time of year, the time for winter sports in our snow-covered peninsula. Skiing, sledding, ice skating, hockey – all of these can be great fun, but involve speeding over slick surfaces and the occasional crash. Braces wearers need to remember that an impact to the mouth can significantly damage teeth and tissue so it is important to take the right precautions.

Besides using common sense, you can lessen the danger of winter sports to your braces by wearing a mouthguard. A mouthguard will cushion the cheeks, lips, and gums from the impact of sharp wires and brackets. They can also protect athletes from head injuries and damage to the jaw.

There are essentially three types of mouthguards:

• Ready-made – This is the inexpensive, off-the-shelf sports type of mouthguard. It is not considered very effective by dentists or orthodontists.

• “Boil and bite” – As the name indicates, biting into this type of mouthguard after heating it will imprint the pattern of your teeth into the plastic which will fit better than the ready-made type. These types of mouthguards are an inexpensive alternative to custom-made and can be found pharmacies, but they don’t last forever, and they aren’t particularly well fitted to your mouth or comfortable to wear or speak through.

• Custom-made – This type of mouthguard is made from an impression of your mouth and will be the longest lasting, most comfortable, and effective, but also the most expensive kind of mouthguard. Dentists also recommend using this type of mouthguard for uses such as teeth grinding.

Talk to your orthodontist before choosing any type of mouthguard. Mouthguards can be particularly tricky to make yourself while you have brackets and wires, or other orthodontic appliances to work around.

While wearing a mouthguard won’t make you invincible, it can result in a large reduction in mouth-related injuries from skiing, skating, and sledding accidents. If you are going to participate in winter sports, you can expect the occasional face in the snow. Ask your dentist or orthodontist in Grand Rapids about your mouthguard options before you skate into that ice rink.