Earn Extra Ortho Bucks!!

It's August & the theme for this month is Hawaiian! Come to your appointment wearing your Hawaiian gear & earn an extra Ortho Buck!

Parents & siblings can earn extra Ortho Bucks for the patients, too. Wear a lei or a Hawaiian shirt or a hula skirt when you come in for your August appointment.

Earn Extra Ortho Bucks!!

Participate in our theme months

and earn extra Ortho Bucks!

July's Theme is Patriotic Month

Wear Red, White & Blue to your appointments,

or just stop by wearing the appropriate attire

and earn an extra Ortho Buck.

(Parents can join in the fun and earn extra

Buck for their kids!)

The theme for August is Hawaiian Month.

Wear a lei, or a Hawaiian shirt or a hula skirt!

Have You Seen Our New Website?

Check out

www.orthodontistrwc.com 

New Contest!!

Scavenger Hunt/Where in the World is Yang Orthodontics?

1st Place: $100 Gift Card  (your choice...Best Buy, Target or Amazon)

2nd Place: $15 iTunes Card

3rd Place: 2 Movie Tickets

Each entry will score points for each task completed correctly.

Prizes will be awarded to the top 3 entries with the highest scores.***

There are 2 parts to the contest:

The online Scavenger Hunt section

The Where in the World is Yang Orthodontics? section

The answers to our scavenger hunt section can be found on our website

http://www.orthodontistrwc.com/

Please e-mail Scavenger Hunt answers to info@orthodontistrwc.com

Please e-mail Where in the World pictures. Include your name & which task you have completed. All tasks must have their own picture. If you are not present in the picture with your Yang Orthodontics cinch sack, the picture will not count and you will not get the points. (Please e-mail all pictures at one time.)

You must be a current patient (either undergoing full treatment, Phase 1, Phase 2 or in observation status) of Yang Orthodontics in order to receive any prizes.

Please note that by emailing or sending your pictures to Yang Orthodontics, you are giving us permission to post these pictures and/or utilize them for marketing purposes.

**Winners will be determined by points. If there is a tie for either 1st, 2nd or 3rd place, winning names will be determined by a drawing.

Contest Deadline: September 15, 2011

Win a Spin!!

Win a spin on our Yang Orthodontics Wheel!

1. Refer a friend, if they start treatment you get a spin.
2. Start treatment & get a spin.
3. Redeem 40 Ortho Bucks for a spin.

Current prizes:

• Noah's & Burger King - $10 gift certificate
• Cold Stone, Jamba Juice, iTunes, Starbucks, Subway & Barnes & Noble - $15 gift certificate
• Target - $20 gift certificate
• Best Buy - $25 gift certificate
• Dinner & Movie for 2
• Santa Cruz Boardwalk -1 pass for unlimeted rides
• Great America - 1 ticket

Prizes will  change from time to time...so stay tuned!

Theme Months!

 Earn extra Ortho Bucks. Participate in our theme months & win an Ortho Buck!

• The theme for June is Sports Month. Wear a sports jersey or a baseball hat or something that reflects your favorite sport & earn an Ortho Buck!
• July is Patriotic Month. Wear Red, White & Blue for an extra Ortho Buck.
• August is Hawaiian Month. Wear a lei or a Hawaiian shirt or a Hula skirt & join in the fun!

What is the right age to bring a child for an orthodontic evaluation?

Great question! Many parents ask us that question, actually. Many parents in Redwood City, CA  assume they must wait until their child has all of his or her permanent teeth to visit Dr. Stephen Yang for a complimentary consultation, only to discover treatment would have been much easier if started earlier. Did you know the American Association of Orthodontists recommends that every child have an orthodontic check-up no later than age seven?

Yes – seven.

At that point, enough permanent teeth have arrived for Dr. Yang to make a determination about whether any problems are present. Also, by age seven, the first molars have come in, providing an opportunity for the Doctor to check for malocclusion, or what we call “bad bite.” Also, the incisors have begun to come in, and problems such as crowding, deep bites and open bites can be detected.
Orthodontic evaluation at an early age provides one of two positive outcomes: For some, early identification of problems will lead to easier or shorter orthodontic treatment in the future. For others, a healthy prognosis will provide immediate peace of mind.

Early evaluation, of course, may signal a need for early treatment. For some children, early treatment can prevent physical and emotional trauma. Aside from spurring on years of harmful teasing, misaligned teeth are also prone to injury and are detrimental to good oral hygiene. So, if your child is nearing his or her seventh birthday, give us a call at 650-366-5758 to schedule an appointment that is free of charge.

Can I Eat Candy With Braces?

Question: Can I Eat Candy With Braces?

You have braces and you want to sink your teeth into a gooey candy bar, but you wonder "Can I eat candy with braces?" If you've asked yourself this very question, the answer isn't too surprising.

Answer: There are many foods you can and can't eat with braces, but eating candy when you have braces is specifically not recommended for a number of reasons. Understanding why and how eating candy when you have braces will hurt your chances of having successful orthodontic treatment, thus affecting the health of your teeth and gums in the long run, will hopefully help diminish your cravings for sweet treats while you have braces; and hopefully beyond your orthodontic treatment as well.

It's All About the Sugar

For starters, let's take a look at the obvious. Candy is loaded with sugar, which is a carbohydrate. Carbohydrates are what fuel the bacteria on your teeth to produce acids that cause tooth decay to form. For a tooth without braces, candy is a large threat. Now add in the brackets and bands onto your teeth, which are a necessity during your orthodontic treatment, and your teeth most certainly will be facing a nightmare of tooth decay. When you incorporate additional sugar to your diet, along with the difficulty of reaching every surface of the tooth and around the bracket and band attachments with your toothbrush and floss, avoiding candy certainly outweighs giving into a tempting piece of candy.

Sticky, Hard, Gooey Gooey - It's All the Same

Candy can be found in a number of different forms, but it's really all the same when you consider eating candy with braces. From hard mint-type candies, to sticky toffee and gooey chocolate bars, candy does mass amounts of damage to your braces, regardless of what form it comes in.
When you bite into a hard or sticky piece of candy without braces, your tooth is stressed by the force it takes to break down and chew the piece of candy. With braces or your teeth, biting into a hard piece of candy will put additional force onto the bracket or band attachment, along with the tooth. More often than not, the bracket or band will succumb to the force it takes to eat the candy, and they will break or "pop" off. When a bracket or band becomes loose, your orthodontic treatment comes to a screeching halt until you are able to see your dentist or orthodontist to have he problem repaired. For most patients, a loose band or bracket will set their treatment back one to two months.

Early Orthodontic Evaluation

An early childhood orthodontic evaluation can yield excellent results.

Even if a child is too young for braces, it is not too early for an orthodontic evaluation. Some children, as early as 5 or 6 years of age, may benefit from an evaluation.The evaluation is best performed by an orthodontist. An orthodontist can determine whether preventative or interceptive treatment may be indicated.

Malocclusions (bad bites) often become noticeable between the ages of 6 and 12, as the child's permanent (adult) teeth erupt. Children may experience crowding of teeth, too much space between teeth, protruding teeth, extra or missing teeth and sometimes jaw growth problems. Other malocclusions are acquired - such as those caused by thumb or finger-sucking, mouth breathing, dental disease, abnormal swallowing, poor dental hygiene, the early or late loss of baby teeth - and develop over time.

Orthodontic treatment often begins between the ages of 7 and 14. Treatment that begins while a child is growing, often referred to as "interceptive orthodontics," helps produce optimal results. To achieve optimal treatment, children should have an orthodontic evaluation no later that age 7. By then, they have a mix of primary (baby) teeth and permanent teeth. Your child's dentist can spot problems with emerging teeth and jaw growth early on, while the primary teeth are present. That's why regular dental exams are important.

Orthodontist are trained to spot subtle problems with jaw growth and emerging teeth while some baby teeth are still present. Early detection of orthodontic problems in young children may make it easier to correct those problems in the long run. Waiting until all of the permanent teeth have come in, or until facial growth is nearly complete, may make correction of some problems more difficult and even impossible. For these reasons, the AAO (American Association of Orthodontists) recommends that all children get a check-up with an orthodontist no later than age 7.

Top 10 Tips for Keeping Your Braces Clean!

Keeping your teeth clean is more important than ever when you have braces. Food bits have more spots than usual to hide in your mouth, so you must be diligent in order to avoid bad breath, swollen gums, discolored teeth and cavities. If you remove plaque regularly during treatment, you’ll experience better results and shorter treatment time. Keep plaque at bay with these top ten tips:
1. One tooth at a time. When you brush, take time with each individual tooth – at least 10 seconds each – and pay careful attention to the spots where your teeth touch your braces.
2. It’s all about the angles. Brush the tops of your teeth and braces with your brush angled down toward where they meet. Brush the bottoms of your teeth and braces with your brush angled up.
3. The tooth, the whole tooth, nothing but the tooth. While the front surface of your teeth may seem like the most logical to clean, it’s equally important to clean the inner surface of your teeth (tongue side) as well as the chewing surface. And be sure to clean along your gum line – a key spot for plaque buildup.
4. Step 1: eat, step 2: clean. While you’re in treatment, it’s important to brush after every meal. Bits of food can easily get caught between braces and teeth, and these food bits interact with bacteria in your mouth to cause decay. The longer food is in contact with your teeth, the greater opportunity for plaque to form. If you are eating somewhere that you can’t brush, thoroughly rinse your mouth with water.
5. Like a Boy Scout, always be prepared. The easiest way to be sure you can brush after every meal is to get in the habit of taking a toothbrush, toothpaste and floss with you wherever you go. Designate a special container just for your teeth-cleaning tools and keep it in your purse, backpack, or laptop case.
6. Remove the moving parts. If you have elastic bands or headgear, remove these parts before you brush or floss.
7. Fluoride is your friend. Fluoride helps prevent cavities. Be sure to brush with fluoride toothpaste, and rinse with fluoride mouthwash.
8. Pointy brushes reach tiny places. Interproximal brushes (sometimes called proxa brushes or interdental brushes) are cone-shaped and come in very handy for reaching spots around your braces that standard brushes can’t.
9. Find the floss for you. Regular floss works for some patients, but others find it easier to work with a floss threader, which helps you get the floss into tight places. Other patients like an all-in-one product called Superfloss, which comes with a stiff end for easy threading, a spongy section for cleaning wide spaces, and regular floss for narrow spaces.
10. Make time for the pros. It’s your job to take care of the everyday cleaning. But make sure to visit your dentist regularly while in treatment, to get the deep, thorough cleaning that only a professional can provide. If you need help finding the right Dentist for you, feel free to contact our office – we’d love to help!
Hope this helps!

Stephen Yang, DMD, MS
52 Arch St, Ste 2
Redwood City, CA 94062
650-366-5758