Month: August 2019

5 Signs You Need Orthodontics

Posted on August 20, 2019 by - Braces, For Adults, For Children, For Teens, Invisalign

young friends, school, happy, Invisalign, happy smile, Jupiter Orthodontics

Orthodontic treatments serve a cosmetic purpose as well as a major functional purpose. The right orthodontic treatment can improve your functionality, increase your self-confidence and quite literally change your life!

How do you know if you can benefit from orthodontics? Here are 5 signs that you should begin treatment!

1. You breathe through your mouth
One telltale sign that you need orthodontic treatment is mouth-breathing. Mouth-breathing has everything to do with the openness of the airways, relative to the width of the jaw. When the jaw is considerably narrow, the airways are blocked or obstructed and it’s difficult to breathe easily through the nose. Mouth-breathing can lead to sleep apnea, which can be life-threatening if it goes untreated! To improve your breathing, Dr. King will create a customized treatment plan to expand your jaw and open your airways.

2. You hide your smile
If you ever hide your smile or feel self-conscious when you grin, it’s time to begin orthodontic treatment! If your teeth are crooked, gapped, crowded or you have a visibly poor bite, we have the orthodontic treatments to give you the confident smile you deserve. It’s never too late to recreate your smile, and the right orthodontic treatment will leave you with a smile that you want to share.

3. Your top and bottom teeth don’t meet evenly
Do you find it difficult or uncomfortable to chew food? This can indicate a poor bite condition. When your top teeth don’t meet your bottom teeth evenly, this can affect your jaw function, your airways and even your posture! Poor bite conditions include overbites, underbites, open bites and crossbites. If you notice your top teeth jutting over your bottom teeth, your bottom teeth extending beyond your top teeth, or you experience difficulty chewing, Dr. King can create a personalized treatment plan that brings your jaw into perfect alignment to improve its functionality.

4. You have a speech impediment
If you have a lisp or speech impediment, this may be attributed to your orthodontic condition. A malocclusion, or poor bite condition, makes it difficult to bring your top and bottom teeth together evenly to pronounce certain sounds, like ‘s’ and ‘z’. If there are any unintended openings between the teeth while the tongue is trying to enunciate, this will create a lisp. These open spaces often occur in openbites and overjets. Through orthodontic treatment, Dr. King can expand the jaw and realign the top teeth with the bottom for proper speech ability.

5. Your child’s teeth are growing out of alignment
Children should visit the orthodontist by age 7. During this time, baby teeth are falling out and permanent teeth are erupting through the gums. This is the perfect time to consider orthodontic treatment, before the adult teeth stabilize. Once the adult teeth stabilize, they may reveal a problematic condition that affects functionality or appearance. Dr. King is highly trained in detecting problematic orthodontic conditions before they fully emerge. By assessing the alignment of your child’s teeth during his or her malleable years, we can intervene before the condition affects the quality of your child’s life. When your child completes his or her free initial consultation with Dr. King, this does not mean he will recommend that your child begins orthodontic treatment immediately. Unlike many other orthodontists, Dr. King will determine the optimal period for your child to begin treatment, and he will continue to monitor your child’s progress for months or years to follow at no cost to you!

No matter how severe you or your child’s orthodontic condition, Dr. King will create a personalized treatment plan that brings you to your ideal smile. If you notice any of these 5 telltale signs throughout the day or night, give us a call to discuss how orthodontics can benefit you.

We provide adult orthodontics, braces for kids, clear braces and more to the Jupiter, Florida community. Request your free exam with Dr. King to get started today!

Why to go to an orthodontist instead of an at-home clear aligners company?

Posted on August 10, 2019 by - Braces, Community, For Adults, For Children, For Teens, Invisalign, News

young woman, smiling, white straight teeth, Invisalign, Jupiter Orthodontics

As at-home clear aligners increase in popularity, it’s natural to wonder whether in-person orthodontic care or at-home orthodontic care is the better decision for you or your child.

You may believe “at-home” has a comfortable ring to it, but when it comes to you or your child’s precious smile, do you really want to leave room for error?

Take this quick quiz to understand why in-person orthodontic treatment is the right decision for you!

1. Initial Exam
You decided on Invisalign® clear aligners as your treatment. Now, let’s begin. For your initial exam, do you choose Option A or Option B?

Option A: At-home clear aligners

You took the questionable route and chose at-home orthodontics. For your initial exam, you receive an impression kit in the mail. You bite into the impression mold of thick “goop”, your hands shake and you aren’t quite sure if you’re doing it correctly. You send your molds back through the mail and await the arrival of your clear aligners.

Option B: Clear aligners from the orthodontist

You played it smart and scheduled your free exam with us. You meet Dr. King, who asks you what your goals are with treatment. Dr. King then completes a thorough exam of your teeth and bite. He takes x-rays of your condition and shows you diagnostic photos of previous success stories. Dr. King discusses your treatment options with you and suggests the most efficient and effective treatment to fit your lifestyle. He thoroughly explains your chosen treatment and proceeds to take impressions of your teeth and bite, using the iTero Digital Impression system. Your dental molds show immediate results, without the use of “goopy” impression materials. Dr. King crafts a treatment plan, personalized to your current condition and your unique orthodontic goals. He explains every aspect of your custom treatment plan and answers every question you have. Now, with an extensive understanding of what’s to come, you await the arrival of your clear aligners.

2. Your initial exam is complete!

Now it’s time to receive your aligners and begin treatment. If you chose:

Option A: At-home clear aligners

You receive your clear aligners in the mail. You place a set in your mouth, and they feel slightly off-kilter. You can feel that your bottom teeth are dramatically compressed in the bottom aligner, and your top aligner is fitting loosely. You place them in and begin treatment, but you have a few questions, so you resort to searching Google for answers. You continue referring to Google with questions throughout your treatment. Four months have passed, and you snap a picture of your teeth to compare with a picture of your teeth from the beginning of treatment. You don’t notice a difference, but you assume it’ll take a little longer to see results. So you continue treatment and await the results.

Option B: Clear aligners from the orthodontist

You receive your clear aligners from Dr. King. You place a set in your mouth, and they fit snuggly with just enough pressure exerted on your teeth. Dr. King gives you detailed instructions with your clear aligners, and you ask questions to ease every concern. You leave our office with your new orthodontic treatment and a comfortable, comprehensive understanding of your treatment plan. You visit our office regularly, every couple of months, so Dr. King can monitor your progress and order your next few sets of aligners. You visit Dr. King or call the office as often as you’d like with any questions or concerns. (You’re sure to address the hard hitting questions, like “Can I drink wine with Invisalign”?) Four months into your treatment, you compare a picture of your ‘before’ teeth with a picture of your current progress, and you notice a dramatic difference! You’re ecstatic with your current smile, and you can’t wait for the final results.

3. Your treatment is over!

How do you like your new smile?

Option A: At-home clear aligners

Your smile looks different than it did at the beginning of your treatment. You realize you were misinformed on the amount of hours to wear your aligners each day, so your treatment progressed at a slow pace. Your bottom teeth are crowding each other. Your top teeth don’t fall into perfect alignment with your bottom teeth, and it feels awkward to chew food. You realize that you must’ve taken inaccurate molds of your teeth at the beginning of your treatment. (Remember your shaky hands?) Looking at your results in the mirror, you decide that your at-home orthodontic venture was not worth the money or time. You call Jupiter Orthodontics to schedule your free orthodontic exam, and your treatment period starts back at square one.

Option B: Clear aligners from the orthodontist

You love your new teeth! Your smile reveals perfectly aligned teeth on the top and bottom rows. Your previous condition has vanished, and your top and bottom teeth align comfortably with a healthy bite. Your new smile exceeds your expectations, and you can’t wait to maintain it during the retention phase. You walk out of Jupiter Orthodontics with a confident smile that you can’t stop sharing. Your in-person orthodontic treatment was a success.

The risks in at-home orthodontic care should not be ignored!

In this scenario, at-home orthodontic care resulted in an ineffective treatment that required in-person orthodontic care in the end to reverse damage. (At-home orthodontic care can lead to even greater damage than this scenario!) When you choose in-person orthodontic care with an orthodontist, you’re choosing a path that will save you a considerable amount of time and money.

At Jupiter Orthodontics, we want you to experience a confident smile without damaging your teeth or gums. If you’re seeking an orthodontist in Jupiter, we would love to meet you! Please feel free to reach out to us or schedule your free exam with Dr. King today.  Jupiter Orthodontics is proud to serve the Jupiter, Palm Beach Gardens, and Hobe Sound, FL communities.