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Download our new patient forms:
Adult New Patient Form
Child New Patient Form
Get to Know You Form
Dr. B's Top Ten Orthodontic Must Knows
1. Appointments for placing braces on, removing braces, delivering expanders or other appliances are longer and very important appointments. They require more time for you and Dr. Barkate. Because he wants to give you or your child the time you need and deserve, these appointments are always scheduled in the morning when we are less busy.
2. If you have a loose brace, band or if anything is broken or lost, please call ahead to notify us so we can extend your next appointment to repair or replace the missing or broken appliance. If we are not notified and have not scheduled the appropriate time to repair or replace the broken or lost appliance, you may have to be rescheduled. These appointments will also need to be in the morning if it is not a simple fix.
3. It is completely normal for braces and some appliances to cause discomfort for 3-5 days while you get used to them. You can take Motrin or Tylenol during this time to help.
4. If you chew on hard, crunchy food, pens, pencils, ice or drink lots of soda (a more complete list will be given to you), your braces can and will come loose. This can cause your treatment time to be extended needlessly.
5. If you experience a pokey wire or loose wire, you can cut the loose wire or use wax on a pokey wire to make yourself comfortable. Call to notify us and we can fix the problem at your next appointment or when it is convenient for you to come in.
6. Excellent oral hygiene is very important during orthodontic treatment to avoid cavities and gum disease. Brush three times a day and floss daily (refer to our Oral Hygiene Tips).
7. During orthodontic treatment, it is also very important for you to see your general dentist three times a year for cleanings and checkups.
8. Not wearing your rubber bands (elastics), headgear, removable expanders, etc…as instructed will lengthen your treatment time.
9. Most appointment intervals are between four to eight weeks. It is important to call us ASAP if you have to reschedule or if you missed your appointment in order to keep your treatment on track.
10. It is extremely important to wear your retainer as instructed after your active treatment is completed and see your general dentist for a cleaning and checkup.
Swallowing Exercises and Therapy
Tongue thrusting during swallowing can cause an open bite due to the pressure exerted on the upper anterior teeth. The following are tips to help reduce the amount of tongue pressure on the upper anterior teeth that can help us orthodontically close an open bite. The younger you are, the better chance you have to retrain your tongue muscle to function correctly.
1. Practice the correct tongue position while swallowing. Lips together, teeth together and tongue on the roof of your mouth just behind the upper anterior teeth with no tongue contact on the upper anterior teeth. Ten sips of water or favorite juice four times a day slowly practicing correct swallowing technique.
2. Place a Lifesaver or Cheerio on the tip of your tongue and hold it up against your palate until it dissolves. This will strengthen the tongue muscles and retrain them to curl up instead of thrust out during swallowing. Do multiple times a day.
3. Place tongue on anterior roof of mouth in correct position and make a “clicking” sound with tongue to practice correct position and repetition of tongue position.
4. You may want to consult a speech pathologist to help with other exercises for correct tongue position, as well as correct tongue position during speech.
This will take lots of practice and time to retrain your tongue to swallow correctly. Breaking old muscle memory habits, developed over many years of swallowing millions of times incorrectly in a thrusting motion, can be hard to achieve but is important to get a stabile correction of an open bite. Good luck and we are here to help!
Retainer Wear and Care Instructions
Congratulations on your new, beautiful smile! You have worked very hard to have a healthy and beautiful smile, now you must learn how to take care of it. Retainers are critical to the success and stability of your orthodontic results.
1. Unless otherwise instructed by Dr. Barkate, wear your retainers all day and night for at least 6 months. Take them out only to eat, brush your teeth, and to play sports (like football) where there is a high probability that they will likely be knocked out of your mouth.
2. After 6 months of full time wear, we will evaluate if you can go to night-only wear. You must wear them every night for another 6 months, before you can begin to wear them less often, such as every other night or twice a week. Everyone is different and will need more or less retainer wear.
3. As a rule of thumb, if your retainer fits more tightly when you skip a day after 6 months of night-only wear, then you still need to wear them every night. Some people will need to wear retainers every night for years to keep their teeth in the position they were placed during orthodontic treatment.
4. Teeth are never completely stable. Both orthodonticly treated and non-orthodonticly treated will move during your lifetime. If you want your teeth to stay straight and beautiful, like they are when you get your braces off, the you will need to wear your retainers at least periodically for the rest of your life.
5. If you ever stop wearing your retainers, then your teeth will move. If you want to move them back to their correct position, there will be a re-treatment fee.
6. There is a replacement fee for lost, broken or improperly fitting retainers, due to lack of wear.
7. When you are not wearing your retainers, keep them in your retainer case and place them in your pocket, backpack or purse. Retainers placed in napkins or pant pockets get lost or broken. Keep retainers out of reach of dogs. They like to chew on them, which will ruin the retainers.
8. If you lose, break, or stop wearing your retainers for any reason, you need to contact us right away to adjust or make new retainers. Otherwise your teeth will begin to shift.
9. To clean your retainers, simply brush with toothpaste and water daily. You can use denture cleaner as well. Do not boil or wash them in the dishwasher. Heat will distort them.
10. You need to keep your regularly scheduled retainer check-up appointments so Dr. Barkate can make adjustments to keep your retainers fitting properly, especially in the first year after your braces are removed.
11. The normal retainer check-up appointments after your braces are removed are as follows: 6 weeks, 3 months and 6 months check-up appointments. Bring retainers to all visits. After one year following your braces removal, any retainer check-ups is at your discretion. There will be a small fee for retainer check-ups after one year post brace removal.
Congratulations!
Wear and Care of Retainers and Removable Expanders
Unless otherwise instructed, retainers and expanders should be worn full-time and removed only for eating and brushing. If you do not have your retainer or expander case with you, you may even eat with your retainer or expander on, but be sure to rinse it off after eating. After a period of time, your wearing time will be decreased gradually to ensure that your teeth don't relapse. If the wires on your retainers or expanders become bent, do not attempt to straighten them yourself. Call the office for an appointment. If the plastic breaks or cracks, bring all the pieces. Do not attempt to glue them together.
If you follow these simple rules, your retainer or expansion period will be quite easy and successful.
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