Your teen’s diet is very important to the health of their smile. Unfortunately, teens tend to consume more sugar and unhealthy snacks. These include drinks such as sodas, energy drinks, and sports drinks, which can be loaded with sugar and caffeine. Both of these additives are acidic to teeth and can damage enamel. Snacks such as prepackaged foods or fast food can be high in sugar and carbohydrates, which can damage teeth and provide little nutrients in return. Encourage your teen to eat healthy by providing plenty of water at home and packing snacks such as apples, carrots, and nuts for outings!

2. Sub-par Brushing Habits

While brushing may have been fun as a kid, your teenager probably sees it as more of a chore. Teens are infamous for neglecting to floss or skipping brushing from time to time. If your teen is skipping brushing in the morning or evening, have a talk with them about their dental health. Visiting the dentist is a crucial time in which your dentist can properly clean your child’s teeth and help coach them on the right dental health habits!

3. Neglecting to Properly Clean Braces

If your teenager has braces, properly cleaning in-between all the brackets and wires is important. Usually, they’ll need a special flossing tool in order to get under the braces and floss their teeth correctly. Teens may neglect their braces and therefore compromise their oral health while they’re getting treatment. Support your teen’s orthodontic treatment by getting flossers, water picks, or electric toothbrushes. These can help better clean tight spaces and eliminate plaque build-up in those hard-to- reach areas!

4. Oral Piercings

Piercings are popular among teenagers. Lip, tongue, and cheek piercings are highly damaging to anyone’s smile. Teenagers often don’t think about the consequences of getting an oral piercing when it comes to their teeth and gums. Any oral piercing has the potential to cause gum recession and fractured teeth. Lip piercings often rub against the gumline and can cause gums to recede, therefore causing tooth sensitivity and permanent damage. Tongue piercings can knock against teeth, causing cracks or chips that’ll need treatment to repair.

5. Sports

If your teenager plays sports, this heightens their risk to receive a mouth injury. Teenagers can experience knocked-out teeth, chipped teeth, or fractured teeth from a sports injury. If your teen plays any kind of contact sport, encourage them to wear a mouthguard. This is especially important if they have braces!

Teenagers don’t like to listen, but do your best to give them the best advice when it comes to their oral health. Damaging their smile with improper brushing habits, a poor diet, and oral piercings can affect their smile long-term. Talk to them about the consequences and as always, get them to the dentist for that check-up!

The post Top 5 Dental Health Hazards for Teenagers appeared first on Your Dental Health Resource.

What issues are you looking to fix with your teeth? If you have common problems like an overbite or crowded teeth, Invisalign can easily fix these problems. However, if you have complex bite issues or misalignment problems that are too severe, metal braces may be your only option to properly address these conditions.

Invisalign can treat a variety of bites included overbites, underbites, and even crossbites. Invsialign can also pull gapped teeth together and push crowded teeth apart. Talk with your orthodontist about what issues need to be fixed. This will be a major determining factor in whether or not Invisalign is right for you!

Your Age

Many people don’t realize that their age can be an issue in their Invisalign candidacy. This is because children younger than 13 often still have teeth coming in. Of course, this will depend on your unique smile, but if you’re younger than 13 years of age, Invisalign likely won’t work for your case. Teenagers that have all of their adult teeth in as well as adults make great candidates for Invisalign. Your orthodontist can take a look at your teeth to determine if Invisalign would properly fix your issues without your age being a problem!

Level of Commitment

Invisalign aligners require a level of commitment that braces don’t. This is for a few reasons:

 You control when you wear Invisalign. Since Invisalign aligners are fully removable, you need to be committed to wearing them for the proper amount of time every day—at least 20-22 hours.

 Invisalign takes a little longer. Invisalign doesn’t put quite as much force on your teeth as traditional braces do, so the treatment period may be a little longer. This means you need to be committed to wearing your Invisalign for the required amount of treatment time.

 Wearing a retainer. After your teeth are fixed, you’ll need to wear a retainer to ensure they don’t shift over time. Orthodontists recommend wearing the retainer every night for life! If you can’t commit to wearing the retainer, treatment is often futile.

People love Invisalign because it gives them the option of having removable aligners that they wear when they want. It also eliminates the appearance of metal braces, which many people associate with teenagers. Invisalign also offers no food restrictions since they’re fully removable. Are you interested in having Invisalign aligners to perfect your smile? Talk to your dentist about this attractive option!

The post How to Know if You’re a Candidate for Invisalign appeared first on Your Dental Health Resource.