Your Health

It’s the first week of September and fall sports have kicked off! Sports physicals are complete, uniforms and shoes have been purchased and you are ready to sit on the sidelines and watch your children in their latest sports endeavors.

There may be one thing that was overlooked though. While some sports require facial and mouth protection not all do, but just because it is not required doesn’t mean it is not a good idea.  Soccer, volleyball, basketball or any sport where there is potential to be hit by a ball or collide with another player can result in damage to soft tissues of the mouth, broken teeth or lost teeth. A mouth guard can prevent many of these injuries from happening.

Dr. Reagin recommends mouth guards for most sports and he provides them to all of his patients. The good new is you don’t have to be a patient of Reagin Orthodontics to make an appointment for a mouth guard. It is a simple phone call and he would be happy to fit you or your child for a custom mouth guard.

Many injuries that could cause long term damage to the mouth and teeth can be prevented by wearing a mouth guard, so call us today!

nterested in finding out more about mouth guards, read this article from our Spring Newsletter.

Did you know that lasers can be used in Orthodontic treatment to make you
more comfortable during treatment, speed up the time you spend in treatment
and to even improve the results once your braces come off? Dr. Reagin is one of
just a few orthodontists in the greater Charleston area that is trained to use
lasers and has one in his office that he uses regularly.

How does Dr. Reagin utilize lasers in taking care of you and your smile?
Let us tell you!
 
 
 

Removing Muscle or Tissue Attachments

Muscles or tissue called frena can cause spaces between teeth or areas where teeth appear set back from other teeth. A laser can be used to shorten or remove this tissue with minimal discomfort. A laser prevents the need for surgery where sutures or scar tissue can be a result. Removing the tissue allows for spaces to be closed and helps to prevent recessions from forming.

Speeding up Treatment Time

Have you ever noticed someone’s smile where it looks like a part of the gum is covering too much of a tooth? When this happens it can prevent an orthodontist from placing a bracket on the tooth. With the use of in-office laser treatment, Dr. Reagin can free the tooth from the gum versus waiting for it to push itself fully through or having to send a patient to an oral surgeon to remove the tissue that is blocking the tooth. By freeing the tooth sooner Dr. Reagin can place a bracket on the tooth and begin moving it into place with your other teeth. This typically results in less time in braces, which everyone loves!

Treating Canker Sores

Aphthous ulcers can form for a variety of reasons and sometimes it is due to braces rubbing on your gums. Did you know they can last up to two weeks? Instead of waiting out aphthous ulcers and for the pain associated with them to go away, Dr. Reagin can use a laser to provide immediate relief with the added benefit of preventing a sore from reoccurring in the same location.

Reducing Gum Swelling

Learning to brush and floss properly with braces is an important skill. Sometimes as you learn to properly care for your teeth with braces the gums become puffy because you cannot get the toothbrush beneath bracket leaving bacteria behind. The bacteria builds up and can cause infection and gum swelling. The swelling can be reduced with a laser to enable patients to brush and floss correctly to prevent this from happening in the future.

Evening the Gum Line

Your braces are removed and your teeth are beautiful, but why do some teeth look longer than others? This is most likely due to an uneven gum line. It may be possible for Dr. Reagin to reshape your gum tissue using a laser for your teeth to all look the same size.

Dr. Reagin believes in continued educational growth for himself and his staff in order to provide his patients with the best possible care. Becoming certified to use lasers has been part of this growth. He and his staff regularly attend classes and seminars to make sure they know current techniques and procedures to provide you with your best possible smile.

Call us today for your free consultation. The team at Reagin Orthodontics would love to develop a plan specific to you and your needs!

We take our health seriously at  Reagin Orthodontics. Dr. Reagin and many of the staff members take time each day to exercise. You might just see Dr. Reagin running through the streets of Summerville during his lunch break.

We talk to you often about how to care for your teeth while you have braces, but your dental health is important us whether you are a current braces wearer or not. And your physical health is also important to us.So when we saw an article recently on the Huffington Post  about the dental health of endurance athletes we immediately had to read it!

Would you believe that endurance athletes, who are often at the height of health, can have poor dental health? That’s right, endurance athletes and runners are more prone to tooth decay and dental problems than the rest of the population.

Wondering why people in peak condition are prone to tooth decay? Click here to read the article on Huffington Post by Jason Saltmarsh and find out all the details!

Earlier in the month we shared with you the importance of mouth protection when participating in recreational sports. We bet you and your kids wear helmets, shin guards and lots of padding so why not take care of your teeth and gums. If our blog post didn’t change your mind about mouth guards, maybe this video from the American Academy of Pediatrics will. It will certainly make you smile.

Dr. Reagin provides all of his orthodontics patients with a set of mouth guards, but if you are not a patient he can help you too! Call us today and make an appointment to have mouth guards made just for you!

No, iTero is not a new Apple product your kids are going to be asking you for! It is the latest in technology for dental molds and impressions! We are always on the lookout to improve our patients experience and service and iTero will certainly do that!

The iTero is a digital scanner that will allow Dr. Reagin to take a 3-D digital image of a patient’s teeth and gum tissue! It is highly accurate and will not cause the annoying gag reflex or leave a bad taste in your mouth! Invisalign® patients can say goodbye to the goop and bad tasting dental plaster beginning in May.

iTero works by utilizing lasers and optical scanning to capture 3-D images of your teeth and bite. The detail is astonishing. All of this is done by using a hand-held photo wand that records 100,000 points of light, 50 microns apart. The process results in a highly accurate image, less wait time to start treatment, less time in Dr. Reagin’s chair and a much more comfortable process for the patient!

The best part of all of this fantastic technology is that the patient is provided with a clear picture of what their teeth look like before, during and after treatment! That is pretty exciting! It allows us to make a very specific plan to meet your needs and you can actually see images of how our plan will change your smile!

Spring and summer usher in a multitude of fun sports and outdoor activities. Having so much fun inevitably leads to a few bumps and bruises, but it is easy to protect you or your child’s smile.

Many sports require facial and mouth protection such as helmets, protective eyewear, face shields and mouth guards, but even if mouth guards are not required they can be beneficial to the participant. Soccer, skateboarding, volleyball, rollerblading, basketball and any type of sport where there is the potential to fall or collide with another player a mouth guard can prevent damage to the soft tissues of the mouth, broken teeth or lost teeth.

Dr. Reagin and the team at Reagin Orthodontics provide mouth guards for all of their orthodontia patients, but did you know they can fit anyone for a custom mouth guard? You do not have to be a current patient of the practice in order to make an appointment for a mouth guard. Many people shy away from mouth guards, because they think they will be uncomfortable, in the way or make communicating with other players difficult.

According to The American Dental Association, “A properly fitted mouth guard will stay in place and be easy for users to talk and breathe while wearing.”

The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry states that sports accidents reportedly account for 10 to 39 percent of all dental injuries in children and are most often caused by direct hits with a hard object, such as a puck or ball, and player-to-player contact.  Many of which could be prevented by wearing a mouth guard. So why wouldn’t you or your child wear one? Spread the word to your friends that Dr. Reagin would be happy to fit them also even if their child is not in braces currently! They won’t regret it!

Call us today to make an appointment for a custom mouth guard!

National Facial Protection Month is sponsored by the Academy for Sports Dentistry, the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, the American Dental Association, the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, and the American Association of Orthodontists.