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Ready to expand your practice and improve your cash flow? One way to do that is to offer more services. In particular, pediatric dentistry may allow you to offer a wider range of services for children who are more likely than adults to have dental insurance coverage. Children can face a range of dental needs, including space maintenance, space regaining, arch development, and habit control.

In order to expand your pediatric dental offerings, you will need to find a reliable source of high quality pediatric dental appliances. SML Global can be that resource. Our network of dental labs stretches the globe and offers a wide variety of pediatric dental appliances, including unilateral space maintainers, lingual arches, fixed tongue loops, and more.

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When you think of tooth loss, the image that comes to mind may be that of tucking a baby tooth under your pillow at night, hoping for the tooth fairy to replace it with something spendable. You might picture your grandparents placing their dentures in cleaning solution on the bathroom sink each night. That’s a sobering image.

The fact is, while often associated with the very young or the very old, premature tooth loss can occur at any age – and is more common than you think. A bad fall. A car accident. An episode of fisticuffs where your teeth are the real losers. All could end in premature tooth loss. Serious gum disease or even oral cancer can also result in tooth loss at any age.

So what are your options if you experience premature tooth loss?

Dentures (for…

The Role Of Clear Aligners In The Management Of Airway Dysfunction Using CombinationSleep Appliance TherapyA Featured Lecture By Rob Veis, DDSDentistry is experiencing two parallel and related growth trends: clear aligner treatment and the care for sleep-disordered breathing. In 2021, over 650,000 patients in North America sought clear aligner treatment as a result of a steady 28% year-over-year growth. Moreover, approximately 3.5 million sleep tests were performed in the U.S. this past year, with nearly 13% growth annually. Given the high prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), it is not surprising that dental practitioners see many patients who show signs of OSA that need treatment and may also require or desire minor tooth crowding correction.

A variety of sleep appliances…

Even more than dentists, orthodontists rely on a variety of different appliances, products and orthodontic dental lab supplies to help their patients obtain a beautiful and straight smile. Not a day goes by when a typical orthodontist doesn’t need to use bonding, brackets, bands, coil springs, archwires, elastics, palatal expanders, pliers, face bows or retainers.Should you ever run short (or out) of these often crucial items, it could prove embarrassing, counter-productive, or even disastrous.  That is why it is so important to work with a reliable lab that will stock and deliver your orthodontic dental lab supplies on time and in working order. Is your current lab is late or sloppy or just bottom…

Ask ten orthodontists their opinion of the lingual bonded retainer, and you are sure to get ten different answers. Some orthodontists love them, others hate them. Most fall somewhere in the middle. Why are some orthodontists so squarely in the bonded retainer camp while others are so against it?

The Pros of the Lingual Bonded Retainer

Perhaps the biggest benefit of a choosing a bonded retainer is avoiding the common compliance issues encountered with removable retainer patients. Teens (and even adults) may wear their retainer for a while, but eventually they stop, and their teeth begin to shift. The best way to ensure that the teeth stay in place is with a bonded retainer. If they…

How to Help Patients Stay Splint-Compliant 

Dental splints continue to be one of the most effective ways to manage bruxism. Yet, although it may seem simple enough to pop in a dental splint at night, you will likely find that a certain portion of your patients find even that simple act of compliance a challenge. They may find the splints to be uncomfortable, inconvenient, or simply forget to put them in.

One way to help these individuals become more compliant is to challenge them to wear the splint each night for 30 days…and track their progress. After 30 days of carefully monitored compliance and accountability, the action becomes automatic…and the benefits more evident. Patients should start noticing a difference after consistent wear --…

Retention on the Removable Side

Having touched earlier in this series upon fixed final retention options, it would be remiss not to give equal time to removable options.That being said, removable retention appliances – when properly designed to not interfere with normal occlusion – are not only the most hygienic option (allowing patient to floss and brush freely) but can also be worn 24/7 if need be.

Another plus? When bruxism is part of the treatment scenario, a bruxism splint can be employed as a final retainer.

SOME OPTIONS:

The Wraparound Hawley The COR Appliance The Talon Splint 

For a Free Copy of our Comprehensive Guide to Final Retention, Click Here. 

Sleep apnea steals precious sleep, but it also steals something much more valuable: oxygen. According to the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine, sleep apnea steals sleep and oxygen from as many as 18 million Americans. Individuals with sleep apnea can stop breathing as many as 100 times a night or more, depriving the body of vital oxygen.

Your brain thrives on oxygen. In fact, it uses approximately three times the amount of oxygen that muscles do. And because brain cells are highly sensitive to drops in oxygen, they begin to die soon after deprivation.

When this occurs night after night – as it does with sleep apnea -- the brain’s ability to heal and process important memories is impaired.

Your  patient child’s teeth are important, even if they still have their baby teeth. Getting a hit straight to the mouth can push teeth out of position, which can affect the growth of adult teeth. If your child has shed their baby teeth, then a mouth guard becomes even more important to protect their permanent teeth from damage during sports. When should you consider recommending a mouth guard for your children?

The U.S. National Collegiate Athletic Association requires a mouth guard for certain sports, including football, hockey, and lacrosse. The American Dental Association goes much further, suggesting a mouth guard for basketball, boxing, gymnastics, martial arts, rugby,…

Features and Benefits: 

  ►  Minimum Chair Time Required

  ►  Wire Placed in Correct Position

  ►  Simple & Effective​  ►  Light-Cured with Composite

Patients lose, break or forget to use their retainers. Improve Final Retention outcome with EZ-Bond. Your patients will love it.