Serenity Orthodontics Blog

Getting started on any new journey is easier when you’re well prepared, and that includes getting set for your new braces. While you may not have them yet, being ready for life with your orthodontic equipment can help make the transition to braces wearer a lot more comfortable.

With orthodontics, the first week is often the hardest, and running back and forth to the store is likely the last thing you’ll want to be doing. In that spirit, here’s a helpful guide to making the first week with your new braces easier, so you can stay comfortable and focus on your improving smile!

Dental insurance is an excellent way to make sure that you and your family’s preventive oral health care needs are met each year. This type of insurance typically covers care like your biannual exam and cleaning and may offer discounts or partial coverage on restorative treatment.

When many parents are faced with getting their children braces, one of their first questions is “will my dental insurance cover orthodontic treatment?” Here’s what you can expect from some plans, and why it’s always best to get orthodontic care while your child is under 18.

If you were fortunate enough to have your smile aligned when you were younger, there’s a good chance your orthodontist provided you with a retainer when your treatment was complete. Unfortunately, over time, many adults stop wearing these devices, causing their teeth to shift out of alignment. If you’re curious about whether you should start wearing your retainer again to help move your teeth back into place, here’s why it’s important to always wear it as prescribed, and why you should never rely on it to restore your bite if you’ve stopped.

If you’ve considered traditional braces but only have issues with your top or bottom arch and not both, you may be wondering if it’s possible to treat just the one that’s bothering you. Here’s why your orthodontist doesn’t typically recommend single arch treatment, and which types of issues are best treated this way.

Time can change a lot of things. Leaves eventually turn bright colors and fall off the trees, paint that sits in the sun all day can sometimes fade, and even your teeth can shift places in your mouth throughout your life. But while changes to your smile can happen due to a variety of reasons, there are thankfully many ways your orthodontist can help. Here are a few common causes of shifting teeth, and what you can do to stop them!

Do you have teeth that are crooked, crowded, gapped, or otherwise misaligned? Fortunately, it’s never too late to start working toward a straighter smile. In addition to making your grin more aesthetically pleasing and comfortable, orthodontic treatment can address multiple oral health problems and promote excellent dental health. Here are some of the long-term health benefits of braces.

If you’d like to straighten your smile with the help of orthodontics, the good news is that there’s no such thing as being “too old” to align your bite. But as we age, we may have undergone dental work that could make braces or Invisalign a bit more complicated. If you’ve had dental implants, it may seem like changing the alignment is impossible, but the good news is that contrary to what you might think, you can still get orthodontic treatment with dental implants. Here’s what you need to know.

Getting braces is a milestone for many teens once they have all their permanent teeth, but occasionally your orthodontist may recommend that your child’s orthodontic treatment begins before they have lost all their baby teeth. It’s called “Two-Phase Orthodontics” and, and it’s designed to help guide your child’s permanent teeth into better alignment before they emerge.

Here’s everything you need to know about two-phase orthodontics, and why early intervention can make a big difference in your child’s smile!

Wearing braces is not without its bells and whistles. Sometimes, you might need a palatal expander, or headgear to go along with them, while other times you might need to wear some strategically placed rubber bands. The important thing to understand about orthodontics is that much like your smile, your treatment is constantly changing.

If you’ve been prescribed rubber bands by your orthodontist, here are a few ways this addition may help guide your treatment on the right path!

With 2025 right around the corner, it’s time to start thinking about how you can improve your smile. With your insurance benefits set to reset in January, you now have some flexibility in your dental insurance budget to consider treatments like Invisalign in the new year!

Here’s why the January is the perfect time to resolve to “glow up” your grin in 2025 with Invisalign!