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Poor April. While other months celebrate romance, or giving thanks, or costumes and candy, April has—April Fool’s Day and a tax deadline. We might be forgiven for thinking these two dates seem more like warnings than celebrations.

So here’s a new topic for the April calendar: National Facial Protection Month! Take the opportunity this month to review your safety practices while you’re enjoying your favorite activities.

• Mouthguards

If you have a mouthguard for sports or athletic activities, wear it! In any activity or sport where humans come into contact with solid objects (including other humans) tooth injury is possible. A mouthguard will help protect you from dental injuries caused by falls, physical contact, or other accidents that might happen in your active life. And it’s not just your teeth—mouthguards protect your lips, tongue, and jaw as well.

You can buy mouthguards in stock sizes or shape-to-fit models, or you can have a guard made especially for you at our Menlo Park or San Carlos, CA office. Custom mouthguards fit perfectly and are designed to make breathing and speaking easy and comfortable. If you wear braces, a custom mouthguard can be designed to protect your smile and your appliance. Just talk to Dr. Kathleen Tavarez for suggestions!

After all the time and work you’ve put into your orthodontic care, don’t let a sports injury set you back. What else should you consider for your facial protection?

• Helmets

If there’s a helmet available for your sport, use it! Helmets are especially important for protecting athletes from brain injury and concussion, and they help protect the face and jaw as well.

• Face Guards

If you’ve experienced a puck speeding toward you, or a defensive tackle hurtling your way, or a fast ball coming in at 90 miles an hour, you know the importance of wearing a face guard. These guards can help protect your eyes, face, teeth, and jaws. Many sports now recommend using face guards—it’s worth checking to see if your sport is one of them.

• Eye Protection

And let’s not forget eye protection. Whether it’s safety glasses or a visor, protecting your eyes and the bones around them is extremely important. You can even get sports goggles or protective sports glasses with prescription lenses to keep you safe and seeing clearly.

So here are a few suggestions for your calendar this month:

• If you haven’t gotten a mouthguard yet, now’s the time. Tooth and mouth injuries occur in sports beyond hockey and football. If you play basketball, ski, skateboard, ride a bike—in fact, almost any sport where you can fall or make contact with a person or object—a mouthguard is a must.
• If you need to replace an ill-fitting or damaged helmet and face guard, do it before your next game. And do replace a bike helmet if you’ve been in a crash—most likely it won’t be as protective, even if damage isn’t visible.
• Talk to your eye doctor about protective eyewear if off-the-rack products don’t work for you.
• If you are a parent or caregiver, make sure your child athlete has the proper facial protection—and uses it.
• If you are a coach, make sure your athletes have the right protective gear—and wear it.
• It’s also a great time to commit to using your protective gear every single time you’re active.

But, wait—these reminders are helpful and important, but weren’t we promised something to celebrate this April? Good catch! The great news is, using facial protection for sports and athletic activities gives you rewards you can celebrate all year: fewer injuries, fewer visits to the emergency room, and a beautiful, healthy, intact smile. Suit up!

Good things come to those who wait. And a beautiful, healthy smile is something worth waiting for! But if there were some way to make the orthodontic process work more quickly, that would be even better. If making your orthodontic treatment more efficient is something that might interest you, talk to us when you visit our Menlo Park or San Carlos, CA office, and we’ll explain how you might be able to shorten your time in braces or aligners by using AcceleDent.

How Does Orthodontic Treatment Move Your Teeth?

Our bone cells are really doing a lot of the work! Normally, the bone tissue in our jaws holds our teeth in place very securely. As pressure is put on the teeth through braces or aligners, two things happen: tissue on one side of the tooth stretches, and tissue on the other side of the tooth compresses. Our bones react to these gradual changes by creating more bone cells where the stretching occurs, and maintaining fewer on the other side. Eventually, the bone around our teeth will reshape to create an even, attractive smile and to firmly maintain the teeth in their new positions.

How Can AcceleDent Speed Up this Process?

AcceleDent is an orthodontic device designed to increase the activity of the cells that are remodeling the bone surrounding each tooth. The AcceleDent appliance provides gentle and precise vibrations with a patented process called SoftPulseTechnology®.  When you activate the appliance, these vibrations, called micropulses, travel through the roots of the teeth into the surrounding bone. The micropulses stimulate cellular activity in the bones, leading to a faster remodeling of the bone structure and faster tooth movement.

To make things even easier for you, the third generation of AcceleDent technology, the AcceleDent Optima™, can be linked to the AcceleDent App. You can monitor your progress on the dashboard, discover motivational tools, and even share connections with family, friends and your treatment team.

If you are interested in making your best smile happen—and happen more quickly— talk to Dr. Kathleen Tavarez about how much time AcceleDent might save in your personal treatment plan. Good things come to those who wait, but a good thing that comes a bit sooner than expected? Even better!

Good things come to those who wait. And a beautiful, healthy smile is something worth waiting for! But if there were some way to make the orthodontic process work more quickly, that would be even better. If making your orthodontic treatment more efficient is something that might interest you, talk to us when you visit our Menlo Park or San Carlos, CA office, and we’ll explain how you might be able to shorten your time in braces or aligners by using AcceleDent.

How Does Orthodontic Treatment Move Your Teeth?

Our bone cells are really doing a lot of the work! Normally, the bone tissue in our jaws holds our teeth in place very securely. As pressure is put on the teeth through braces or aligners, two things happen: tissue on one side of the tooth stretches, and tissue on the other side of the tooth compresses. Our bones react to these gradual changes by creating more bone cells where the stretching occurs, and maintaining fewer on the other side. Eventually, the bone around our teeth will reshape to create an even, attractive smile and to firmly maintain the teeth in their new positions.

How Can AcceleDent Speed Up this Process?

AcceleDent is an orthodontic device designed to increase the activity of the cells that are remodeling the bone surrounding each tooth. The AcceleDent appliance provides gentle and precise vibrations with a patented process called SoftPulseTechnology®.  When you activate the appliance, these vibrations, called micropulses, travel through the roots of the teeth into the surrounding bone. The micropulses stimulate cellular activity in the bones, leading to a faster remodeling of the bone structure and faster tooth movement.

To make things even easier for you, the third generation of AcceleDent technology, the AcceleDent Optima™, can be linked to the AcceleDent App. You can monitor your progress on the dashboard, discover motivational tools, and even share connections with family, friends and your treatment team.

If you are interested in making your best smile happen—and happen more quickly— talk to Dr. Kathleen Tavarez about how much time AcceleDent might save in your personal treatment plan. Good things come to those who wait, but a good thing that comes a bit sooner than expected? Even better!

Good things come to those who wait. And a beautiful, healthy smile is something worth waiting for! But if there were some way to make the orthodontic process work more quickly, that would be even better. If making your orthodontic treatment more efficient is something that might interest you, talk to us when you visit our Menlo Park or San Carlos, CA office, and we’ll explain how you might be able to shorten your time in braces or aligners by using AcceleDent.

How Does Orthodontic Treatment Move Your Teeth?

Our bone cells are really doing a lot of the work! Normally, the bone tissue in our jaws holds our teeth in place very securely. As pressure is put on the teeth through braces or aligners, two things happen: tissue on one side of the tooth stretches, and tissue on the other side of the tooth compresses. Our bones react to these gradual changes by creating more bone cells where the stretching occurs, and maintaining fewer on the other side. Eventually, the bone around our teeth will reshape to create an even, attractive smile and to firmly maintain the teeth in their new positions.

How Can AcceleDent Speed Up this Process?

AcceleDent is an orthodontic device designed to increase the activity of the cells that are remodeling the bone surrounding each tooth. The AcceleDent appliance provides gentle and precise vibrations with a patented process called SoftPulseTechnology®.  When you activate the appliance, these vibrations, called micropulses, travel through the roots of the teeth into the surrounding bone. The micropulses stimulate cellular activity in the bones, leading to a faster remodeling of the bone structure and faster tooth movement.

To make things even easier for you, the third generation of AcceleDent technology, the AcceleDent Optima™, can be linked to the AcceleDent App. You can monitor your progress on the dashboard, discover motivational tools, and even share connections with family, friends and your treatment team.

If you are interested in making your best smile happen—and happen more quickly— talk to Dr. Kathleen Tavarez about how much time AcceleDent might save in your personal treatment plan. Good things come to those who wait, but a good thing that comes a bit sooner than expected? Even better!