SML Product Catalog With locations throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, and Taiwan, SML® services more than 150,000 dentists and orthodontists worldwide, providing direct and personal access to everything required for success in appliance therapy…and we’ve been doing it for more than 60 years. We specialize in the design and fabrication of orthodontic…
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.
Two…
Should Your Child Patients Wear a Mouth Guard for His or Her Sport?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,…
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…
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.
Visit our website and view…
Most of us think about mouth guards in relation to high impact sports, like football, wrestling, boxing, and basketball. In these instances, mouth guards can protect teeth from the impact of a stray elbow or knee. For many Americans, however, the greatest risk of tooth destruction comes from grinding, also known as bruxism.
Though some people grind their teeth out of habit during times of stress, anxiety, or boredom, most bruxism sufferers have no idea of their affliction. That’s because they tend to grind their teeth in their sleep. Over time, teeth grinding can wear away the enamel on teeth and cause chronic headaches and jaw pain.
One very simple solution to decreasing teeth trauma and alleviating the symptoms of bruxism is for a person to simply use a mouth guard. Just as it protects teeth in contact sports, a custom-fitted mouth guard can also protect teeth from grinding to decrease trauma. If you suspect that you grind your teeth at night, talk to your dentist…
Final Retention: Post-Treatment Crowding and Post-Treatment ExpectationsI think it would be safe to say that 75 – 80% of all patients experience some relapse or crowding long term, when they stop wearing their retainer(s). Patients always want to know why. So, for the purposes of this blog, here is a sampling of potential causes:
Insufficient airwayMouth breathingTongue position and habitsForces created by speechAberrant SwallowingFinger habitsChewing on pensStraight teeth but deficient arch width and/or lengthExtraction treatmentSeverity of the malocclusion prior to treatmentBruxingAge of patient at time of treatmentMesial driving forces of 2nd and 3rd molarsLack of vertical dimensionThe reality is…retention is forever. Educating your…
