A Layperson's View of a Beautiful Smile as Relayed to Dr. Okun

I’ve known Barbara* for years. She never really had an awful smile. She was a cute girl. She had her orthodontics in high school and got her retainers. I didn’t see her much after high school until yesterday. I was wearing my retainers and was smiling big. I love my smile both with and without my retainers. Barbara was covering her mouth. I thought she was covering her mouth because of my retainer.

As I was walking, I didn’t cover my mouth because I wasn’t shy about wearing my retainers. I saw her teeth when I hugged her and was really shocked. They were awful. The teeth were crooked and her mouth was dirty. You could tell that she just let them go. Right now, in this day and age, your smile is everything. It’s going to get you your job and get you noticed. You want to have a beautiful smile. A beautiful smile goes a long way.

I spoke to one of Barbara’s friends. She told me that Barbara didn’t comply with her orthodontics, and didn’t wear her retainers. I couldn’t believe it. Why would anyone spend money on a beautiful smile and not do what she needed to do to keep it. No matter what you have to do, you have to do it. Your smile is everything.

If you’re just standing at a party looking at two people, would you go to the person with the smile, or the person who was not smiling, who had their mouth closed? Of course you’d go to the person who was smiling. That’s what’s going to stand out.

My sister-in-law had this really huge gap in the front of her mouth. Now she’s wearing braces. She wears her elastics and everything. I can see her teeth moving every day. She’s going to get the surgery (frenectomy) to help the space stay closed. She’s going to be a model, and will do everything she needs to do to get that pretty smile. She has a pretty smile and she knows its worth it. And honestly, what is two years to have something for the rest of your life. It’s not a lot of time to correct something.

*name has been changed to protect the identity of the individual

If you care about your smile and want to receive the highest quality service in a state-of-the-art practice, give Dr. Okun a call. She'd love to have a consultation and let you know what you can do to keep smiling.

What Do We Need Spit For Anyway? -- Dr. Judith Okun Explains

This past week, Dr. Okun attended a lecture entitled “Clinical Pearls for Treating Older Patients” by Dr. Randy Huffines. One of the biggest issues with sickly and elderly patients is that they have decreased salivary flow (i.e. spit). Saliva is necessary to start the digestion of our food, but is also necessary to buffer acids in the mouth and keep minerals in our teeth. With poor quality saliva, or too little saliva, we not only have that uncomfortable dry-mouth feeling, but we also get MANY MORE cavities.

Why does an orthodontist need to know about treating older patients? Many more adults are wearing braces than ever before. Many of them want to achieve that smile they never had when they were young. Many of them were told by their dentists that they need to align their teeth in order make it possible to restore their broken- down teeth or replace their missing teeth. Some have even come to us because their improper bites are causing them pain. Okun Orthodontics attracts many adults seeking braces because we have individual treatment rooms for all of our procedures. This enables all of our patients, no matter how young or how old, to have the privacy they deserve at each visit.

What can we do for patients at increased risk for cavities? (This includes both the elderly as well as the young who have difficulty keeping their teeth clean.) We can show you how to clean around the braces with special aids like inter-proximal tooth brushes (mini-bottle brushes for cleaning teeth) and floss- threaders. (We often recommend that you have someone help you clean your teeth if you are not able to clean them well by yourself.) We also can provide you with MI Paste- a dentist supplied topical crème with calcium phosphate and fluoride that can strengthen your teeth and decrease your cavity-risk. Of course, we also recommend that you get more frequent dental cleanings so that both the gum disease and cavities are minimized.