Life is busy, and sometimes families need to snack while away from home. But, you don’t have to sacrifice your oral health just because you’re snacking on the go. Here are some ideas for healthy snacks-on-the-go!

Nuts
Nuts are rich in protein that helps to build stronger teeth. Nuts are a great healthy alternative to potato chips, or other salty snacks that your kids may crave. With braces, it’s best to use nut butters like almond butter and peanut butter. You need to avoid chomping down on hard foods. 

Apples
Apples are high-fiber fruits, which naturally clean teeth as they’re being eaten! Apples scrub your teeth, gums and tongue, help fight plaque buildup, and help remove surface stains from teeth. Apples also fight bad breath by removing traces of bad plaque and residue from the back of the tongue. Keep the skin on the apple slices, so that your child gets all of the oral health benefits. Cut the apple into slices; don’t risk biting into an apple. Like Snow White, you will regret it. 

Cheese
Cheese is high in calcium and promotes strong teeth. But the benefits of cheese don’t end there. It also contains a protein called casein, which strengthens tooth enamel and helps to prevent cavities. String cheese is a healthy FUN snack that everyone loves to eat!

Always Bring Water
Water is one of the best tools for keeping mouths clean. When preparing a snack for your child on the go, grab a water bottle instead of a juice box.  Encourage your kids to swish water around in their mouth after they’re done snacking- it helps remove food bits that get caught in their teeth and can lead to enamel loss and acid buildup.

Healthy Diets Mean Happier Teeth
A mouth-healthy diet is an important part of maintaining optimal oral health. If you’re concerned about how your child’s diet may be affecting their teeth, then bring them into our office. We can discuss healthy, delicious dietary options that kids love, and strengthen teeth. 

If you have questions, we are here to answer them!  Call our office at 703-263-0575.

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Here’s a fun fact - babies can imitate smiles as early as the first 36 hours of life. Crazy, right?! Another amazing thing science has discovered is that babies don’t just smile out of reflex, they smile because they want to and because they’re responding to stimuli from their parents from the very beginning! (more here!)

​What does this tell us? Smiles are something that is very natural and they matter! So, why then do we put off brushing and flossing?

When you get your braces, dental hygiene becomes even more important. You have to be sure that the teeth under the braces are clean otherwise you can develop cavities on the front, visible side of your teeth! Think of all that effort to get them straight and then you have to get the fronts fixed! Eeek!  

Here’s the thing - braces won’t cause cavities, decalcification or gum disease, but not cleaning food particles out from under them could. The good news is that brushing and rinsing often will help eliminate the risk.

Our Famous Brush Talk

When you get your braces at OBC, you’ll sit through our quick but helpful “brush talk” - and you’ll also get an awesome electric toothbrush too. We think gadgets are cool and new technology always helps motivate us!

In our brush talk, we will demonstrate proper techniques. Don’t hesitate to ask questions; it’s important that you feel comfortable with your new task when you go home.

Don’t forget to keep up your regular dentist visits and cleanings. Your orthodontic visits do not replace those. It is still important to get your regular check-ups to make sure your teeth are clean and healthy.

A few quick tips:
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• Keep your toothbrush at a 45-degree angle to your gums
• Be gentle when you move the brush back and use short strokes
• Be sure to brush between the wiring and the teeth
• Make sure that you brush the outer surfaces, inner surfaces, and the chewing surfaces
• Brush your teeth thoroughly for at least two to three minutes - after each meal and snack and before bed
• Don’t forget your tongue-- brush it to remove bacteria and to keep your breath fresh

Have questions? We’d be happy to answer them - just give us a call!

When is the right time to get braces on? It’s a question we hear a lot - not just from an age standpoint, but from a school year perspective. Parents and kids alike are often apprehensive about getting their braces on because they aren’t sure what they’re signing up for - and sometimes parents have negative memories of wearing braces themselves.

The good news is that technology has changed so much, even in the last 10 years - the braces you may have worn as a kid are definitely different from the smile systems we use at OBC.

Have you stopped by our office? At OBC, we try to put parents and kids at ease by not only keeping things low key and relaxed with our beach themed office but also by providing the information you need to make the right decision for you and your family. While we’re on the topic of the beach, you guessed it, SUMMER is a really great time for your kid (or YOU!) to get braces.

Why? To state the obvious, school is out in summer - that means most kids have more free time. We believe it’s the perfect time to begin orthodontia work because you won’t be stretched to fit both your schedule and your kid’s school schedule into our office hours. (Also, it’s easier, here in the Northern Virginia region where there’s usually lots of traffic, to get in and out even faster!)

Another reason to consider summer is that it will give your child time to adjust to the look and feel of their new braces before heading back to school in the fall. We all know that teenagers are self-conscious and that adjustment period of summer can help them ease into their new look. Having time to get used to the new smile, away from the classroom, is especially good for children who struggle with self-image. They will get used to talking, smiling, and eating with braces before they have to do those things at school.

A benefit of starting in summer is that when kids are at home more, they are less likely to forget to care for the brushing and extra care braces require because they have fewer distractions. It’s a great time to develop good oral hygiene habits that will keep their teeth in good health while the braces are on.

And last but not least, summer is great for ice cream cones and frozen treats - and that is just what feels great on new braces. While we know braces aren’t as painful as they used to be, we are firm believers that ice cream always helps!

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​Does your child get the right amount of sleep, but always seems tired during the day? Do you battle to get your little one out of bed in the morning? Do you even sometimes hear problems with their breathing as they sleep? It could be that your son or daughter is one of the 10% of children that suffers from Obstructive Sleep Apnea.

​Obstructive Sleep Apnea, or OSA for short, is a condition that arises during sleep where the upper airway closes off (sometimes hundreds of times a night!) and breathing temporarily stops. This results in oxygen deficiency and highly sporadic sleep patterns as the sufferer repeatedly wakes and falls back to sleep in response to their OSA. Chronic tiredness, falling asleep during the day, and an inability to function well during the day are all key indicators of the problem. Furthermore, it is not an isolated or unusual problem in our society. In fact, OSA is now recognized as the most chronic disorder of all industrialized countries, even though it is estimated that 85% of all cases go undiagnosed

​Having OSA means that you literally cannot get airflow to your lungs. Between the oxygen deficiency and sleeplessness that this causes, OSA can result in high blood pressure and obesity in adults, and increases the likelihood of even more serious, lethal issues, like diabetes, strokes, and heart attacks. Having OSA may cause you to gasp in your sleep, to wake up, or to suffer in silence.
 
Thankfully, while OSA is not necessarily as life-threatening for children, it can have profound effects on their physical and mental development and general well-being. The profound lack of meaningful sleep that OSA creates can have an impact on weight management and lead to childhood obesity, as well as impaired intellectual functioning and emotional development. As we all know, a rested child is a happy, healthy child.

In the last few years, OSA has moved to the forefront of medical research and thought due to its link to many of these problematic health issues. Doctors and medical researchers know that medication and/or lifestyle changes may help with childhood obesity or lower the probability of a heart attack, but if the underlying cause of OSA is not addressed, these issues will generally continue to be a problem.
 
The good news is that orthodontics can play a huge role in relieving OSA and OSA-related symptoms!
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Orthodontists are the only medical experts specialized in understanding the structure of the oral cavity and as such, are poised to be the frontline of defense against OSA. Your orthodontist shouldn’t just be interested in creating a beautiful smile, and neither should you! Your orthodontist should take a vested interest in the health of the entire person, and how your smile, teeth, jaw, and facial structure might contribute to your overall health, especially in regards to disorders of OSA. Orthodontists have the potential to work hand in hand with sleep specialists to address the problem, but can also independently provide orthodontic treatments that will work to immediately rid you or your child of OSA symptoms. 

​Here at OBC we take our patients’ overall health very seriously. Because of this, we don’t just simply correct bites or straighten teeth. We take the time to think about the structural changes to a child’s jaw or facial structure that specific orthodontics may create before any work is begun in order to stop OSA sometimes before it can even begin. We also regularly monitor our patients’ progress with an eye for how their orthodontic work may be impacting the airway, and adjust their treatment accordingly.
 
When we see new patients that had orthodontic work done elsewhere or long ago, we take the time to assess their current structural state and address any issues that may contribute to OSA.
 
If you or your child exhibits any of the signs of OSA, please come in and let us take a look. Call our office at 703-263-0575.

 It’s obvious that your airway is essential for you to live. An open, non-constricted airway allows air to enter into your body, which allows oxygen to be absorbed by your blood through the lungs, and which in turn allows you to live a healthful life. Everyone is aware of this… but did you know that your orthodontics can impact your airway?

​When you think about orthodontics and their effects on your airway, the gut reaction may be to panic as you imagine a piece of your braces falling off and down into your throat. You can rest assured -- this doesn’t happen! And that’s not what we are talking about. Instead, we are talking about how restructuring your teeth and jaw, through the use of orthodontics, can either constrict or actually help open up your airway. 

​To understand how this might happen, you need to first think about the pathway your air takes as you breathe: when you inhale, the air goes in through your nose or mouth, passes over the soft palate and tongue, and then goes down into the lungs. (That’s the simplified version, but you get the idea!)
 
Anything that occurs along the way in this process can restrict your air. For example, when your tongue is inadvertently moved down and/or back, possibly when you are in a deep sleep in the middle of the night, and it relaxes to the point where it falls, it makes the airway opening smaller. This limits your air intake and could cause you to have a sleepless night.
 
For us here at OBC, it’s important to understand these concepts because a patient’s facial structure, which is often addressed by orthodontics, can affect the airway. In fact, an open facial structure is usually a good indicator of an open airway.
 
Unfortunately, some orthodontic work, when not planned properly, can lead to airway constriction. In some cases, tooth extractions or retractions due to overbites and protruding teeth can actually lead to the teeth and jaws falling back from their original position. This makes the tongue and soft palate fall back too, which narrows an otherwise normal and healthy airway.
 
A patient probably won’t notice this constriction during waking hours, but when they lie down to go to sleep, that narrow airway becomes even smaller, and could lead to serious health issues, including Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). This condition arises when the airway becomes completely cut off, interrupting a person’s sleep and creating a slew of problems.
 
In the treatment of our patients, it’s important for us to execute modern orthodontics that leave plenty of room in the mouth for the tongue and jaw to rest without obstructing the airway.
This means opting for orthodontics that either keep the jaw in place or expand and develop it forward, instead of allowing the teeth and jaw to fall back. For our patients who have had orthodontic work done somewhere else, or long ago, it means first checking to see what their facial structure looks like, monitoring them for signs of OSA or other problems, and working to fix any airway issues that may arise.
 
At OBC we want your smile to make a splash, but we also care about your overall health too! Schedule a consult with us so we can evaluate your or your child’s airway. We look forward to giving great service, smiles, and health education to our patients.