As much as we hate to admit it, it is that time of year again...back to school! With our patients starting treatment, it is important to be prepared for school. Here at Kennell Orthodontics, we recommend making your own "Orthodontic Survival Kit" to ensure your child has everything when they are away from home. You could use any kind of bag, a Ziplock will do just fine! Then, you can fill it with the necessities for braces such as flossers, travel size toothbrush and toothpaste, proxy brushes, orthodontic rubber bands, orthodontic wax, and maybe even a small mirror!
For our patients in Invisalign; floss, a toothbrush and toothpaste, and your aligner case will be most important. We even recommend leaving your aligners in the classroom or in your backpack where they will be safe. Most aligners get thrown away being in the lunchroom and we don't want that to happen!
For our patients playing sports, PLEASE wear mouthguards if your sport requires one! Keeping your teeth from harm, especially with braces on, is so important! Let us know at your next appointment if you need one. They are also kept in our emergency boxes at all offices so help yourself! Or if you can't make it in, give us a call and we will send you one!
We hope you enjoy the last few weeks of summer and make sure to add these supplies to your back to school shopping lists!
While you are at it, don't forget to fill out our new September Monthly Rewards Activity: "Back 2 School: This or That" and you will earn 20 points!
Summer is here and its a hot one! What’s better than a delicious treat to cool you down after a long day in the summer sun! Luckily, we have just the thing, homemade Orange Creamsicles! The perfect treat for kids and adults to enjoy, braces-friendly too! You can find the complete recipe below:
Ingredients:
1 cup orange juice (fresh or frozen) 1 cup heavy cream or full fat coconut milk (or melted/very soft vanilla ice cream) 3 tablespoons honey ¼ teaspoon orange extract ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
1. In a medium bowl, whisk all the ingredients together. 2. Pour the mixture into a popsicle mold. 3. Let set in freezer for 30 – 60 minutes before adding popsicle sticks. 4. Freeze for another 4 – 6 hours. 5. Run warm water along the outside of the mold to loosen the popsicles before serving.
As most orthodontic patient's might remember, getting alginate impressions of their teeth was never an enjoyable experience. The ooey-gooey material would take what felt like forever to set up and always made everyone want to gag! It was something you wouldn't forget and that you hoped you'd never have to do again!
Thankfully, technology has advanced so much over the years that alginate impressions are not as common in orthodontic offices. Digital intraoral scanners, such as the I-Tero, have been created to capture every nook and cranny of the teeth in a much easier and efficient way. The scanner is capturing hundreds of pictures per minute to create a 3D impression of the teeth. This 3D impression can now be used for the orthodontist to create a treatment plan. It can also be used to send to the lab to have retainers and other appliances made. So much easier than having to mail out an actual plaster model of the teeth!! It used to take forever!
Here are some of the benefits of using the I-Tero intraoral scanner instead of alginate impressions:
Patient Comfort - One of the most important things that matters to our office is that our patients are comfortable during treatment. The I-Tero scanner is much quicker, easier, and much more comfortable than traditional impressions.
No more mess or wasted materials - With traditional impressions, you need to size the impression tray meaning you would have to take time to clean the ones not used. Then, you have to quickly mix the alginate material with water really fast to then load it in the impression tray. It gets EVERYWHERE, all over the sinks, all over the assistants, all over the patients. If the impression did not come out good the first time, you have to keep trying until it is right. This means many wasted supplies and materials. With the I-Tero scanner, the only material being switched out for every patient is the wand tip. It is quick and easy to clean the device and put a new one on.
Patient Involvement - It is so important for patients to be involved in treatment and understand why we recommend the things we do. With traditional impressions, patients most likely don't get to see their plaster models after they have the impressions done. The I-Tero scanner allows patients to see their teeth as a 3D model, right in front of them. Not many people get to see their teeth from that perspective. It also allows patients to point out their concerns and ask questions!
Faster and More Accurate - Traditional impressions may have taken up to 10 minutes to do both top and bottom, but could be longer depending on if you had to re-do them and set-up time. Dr. Kennell's Orthodontic office averaged just over 4 minutes to scan the upper and lower arches with a bite scan. Way faster! The I-Tero scanner is so much more accurate and precise compared to traditional impressions that could have bubbles and voids.
Efficiency - After impressions were done, they were made into plaster models of the teeth and had to be mailed to labs and also took up a lot of space to store them. Now, with the click of a button the 3D models can be sent to the lab in seconds. Then they are 3D printed to make appliances, aligners, and or retainers out of! Super efficient!
What a mess!Quick and easy!
All three of Dr. Kennell's offices, Laconia, Littleton, and Plymouth are equipped with one or more I-Tero scanners of the newest model. After recently going to the AAO conference in Louisiana, the Kennell Orthodontics team was able to try out the newest I-Tero wand. Being able to physically try out the wand convinced Dr. Kennell and his team that they needed it in their offices!!
The I-Tero "Lumina" intraoral scanner has even more benefits:
Takeshigh-quality, photorealistic scans
Has a wider field of view, making it easier to capture
Ergonomically easier on the assistants
More comfortable for patients since the wand is 50% smaller than the older version
2x the speed to capture the entire mouth
Dr. Kennell's orthodontic office is excited to share this new technology with their patients to make for an even better experience! He will continue to stay up to date with the newest technology, who knows what will be created next!!
Dr. Kennell attends many orthodontic conferences throughout the year to expand his knowledge on what's new in orthodontics. He very kindly brought along the rest of his team members to join him this time! They arrived in New Orleans, Louisiana on May 2nd, attended the conferences for 3 days, and then headed back home to New Hampshire on May 7th! Then, they were right back to work the next day seeing all of the patients who had missed them while they were gone. Except now the team was ready with their new found knowledge!
First day, went to register and get our badges!
The first day of the AAO conference, the opening ceremony included a jazz band to get everyone hyped of for the next few days of learning! There were classes for orthodontists, clinical assistants, and the administrative assistants as well! Classes were from 8 AM to 5 PM all 3 days and there were SO many classes being offered!
The assistants learned a new way of bonding Invisalign attachments to the teeth that will hopefully help in preventing them from falling off. The process will now include using an etch material and the use of a dryer to make sure the teeth are as dry as possible. The presenter, Dr. Doug Depew, stressed how critical and important it is to only get the etch material on the exact spot where the attachment is going. This will help during the Invisalign starting appointments when it comes time to remove extra material and will give the attachment a better seal to the tooth surface. They are excited to try out this technique and hope this will in turn benefit both the patient and the assistants in the long run.
The assistants also got to see some successful cases of Phase I Invisalign treatment. Dr. Kennell has done quite a few Phase I treatments so far, but it validated how well it is working for orthodontists everywhere. The information learned about having attachments stay better will apply to the deciduous teeth in Phase I treatment as well!
The whole team sat in on an OSHA presentation that mostly reviewed all of the safety rules and regulations that we follow each and everyday. Some were a reminder for us, especially how important it is for everyone to wear safety glasses and other protective gear. The presenter, Jackie Dorst also brought up a wonderful idea to set up practice scenarios in the office to be prepared in case any emergency situations were to occur! Something you don't always think about, but that is super important for your whole team to know.
There were many classes to help dealing with burnout, physically and mentally, which applied to everyone. They had classes discussing how to reduce stress and anxiety and how to have personal growth and success. These lessons are essential when it comes to how we treat our patients and each other!
The Kennell Ortho team celebrating Cinco De Mayo with their "Will Align Teeth 4 Tacos" shirts.
To sum everything up, Dr. Kennell is an amazing orthodontist of the Lakes Region, who prioritizes his patients having the best success with treatment and the whole experience being at Kennell Orthodontics. He will go above and beyond to make sure that happens, even if that means going to New Orleans, Louisiana to obtain the best information!
