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Halloween is fast approaching, and Dr. Bart Benson wanted to be sure to wish our patients a happy day, no matter how you might celebrate this holiday. The Halloween that is familiar to most people today bears little resemblance to the original Halloween; back in the "old days" it wasn't even called Halloween!

Festival of the Dead

Halloween started out as a Celtic festival of the dead that honored departed loved ones and signified a change in the cycle of the seasons. The Celtic people viewed Halloween, then called "Samhain," as a very special day – almost like our New Years day in fact, as their new calendar year began on November 1st. Samhain was the last day of autumn, so it was the time to harvest the last of the season's crops, store food away for winter, and situate livestock comfortably for the upcoming cold weather. The Celts believed that during this day, the last day of winter, the veil between this world and the spirit world is the thinnest, and that the living could communicate with departed loved ones most effectively on Samhain due to this.

Modern Halloween

Halloween as we know it today started because Christian missionaries were working to convert the Celtic people to Christianity. The Celts believed in religious concepts that were not supported by the Christian church, and these practices, which stemmed from Druidism, were perceived by the Christian church as being "devil worship" and dangerous.

When Pope Gregory the First instructed his missionaries to work at converting the Pagan people, he told them to try to incorporate some of the Pagan practices into Christian practices in a limited way. This meant that November 1st became "All Saints Day," which allowed Pagan people to still celebrate a beloved holiday without violating Christian beliefs.

Today, Halloween has evolved into a day devoted purely to fun, candy, and kids. What a change from its origins! We encourage all of our patients to have fun during the holiday, but be safe with the treats. Consider giving apples or fruit roll-ups to the kids instead of candy that is potentially damaging to the teeth and gums.

Remind kids to limit their candy and brush after eating it! Sweets can cause major tooth decay and aggrivate gum disease, so to avoid extra visits to our Mt. Juliet or Lebanon, TN office, make your Halloween a safe one!

You know how much fun dental impressions can be, and it’s not much . . . The “goopy stuff” is just that, goopy, and aside from all the inaccuracies that a little twitch here or there can mean, there’s the added frustration that you’re left with a bunch of plasticy ick stuck to your mouth and teeth after the mold’s been made. Impressions are a major pain, so here in the office, we’re giving impressions an upgrade. We’re so excited to introduce our newest piece of machinery to call Benson  Orthodontics home, an intraoral scanner!

These bad boys are just incredible. Now the whole thing comes in this big cabinet since it’s not just a camera, it’s a whole computer system with an air compressor attached as well (we’ll get to the air compressor in a jiff). The actual camera part  sits on the end of a little wand, almost like Harry Potter’s but with a different kind of magic! The wand is hooked to the cabinet and connected to the computer and the compressor. To keep the image clear, the compressor shoots just a tiny stream of air out of the end. That small stream keeps fog from your breath from clouding the camera lens and that’s the only thing you feel throughout the entire scan.

Back in the day (ok, back in August), you used to have to wait for a month or so to get your Invisaligns. But instead of waiting for the molds to get shipped to the lab, then go through the process of making a ‘positive’ impression from the negative of the mold, and then wait through the production of the Invisaligns themselves, in three weeks or less you can  have your new pair. What this means in the long run is shorter treatment time for you (even if it is only by a week or so).

When you really think about it, the process of taking a mold hasn’t really changed since orthodontics itself was invented.  Just like conventional photography, that mold is really a negative of your teeth, so the actual process of making an Invisalign means extrapolating from that negative to make a positive for your teeth. While the goopy stuff catches a lot, it can miss a lot. I’ve even had the lab call me up and say that a mold just wasn’t going to give a detailed enough aligner. With the scanner, I don’t just save time, I’m also able to get a really high quality image, better and more consistent than traditional molds.

I’m obviously really excited to have something like this in our office, but what this really means for you is that treatment will be just a bit more precise and by extension, more effective. Combined with speedy delivery, the scanner will give our Invisalign patients faster, more effective, and more comfortable treatment than ever before. Even better, this state of the art machine is coming at no extra cost to you. Right now, I’m just using the scanner for Invisaligns, but down the road, the technology should even allow us to scan the teeth of patients with conventional braces still on so on the day their braces finally come off, they can take their retainers home with them! It’s amazing what we’re able to do in the digital age. We took a day long course in the care, keeping, and operation of the machine, and we're so excited to use our new intra-oral scanner!

Damon Smile braces, with their self-ligating technique, have made the orthodontic treatment process more comfortable and faster than ever before. Damon Smile braces require elastic ties to hold the wires in place, which helps in alleviating pressure while your teeth move into their desired position. Therefore, both treatment time and follow-up visits to Benson Orthodontics are reduced.

Damon Smile braces often times do not require the extraction of healthy teeth or other techniques to make space in your mouth before treatment begins. Traditional braces often require metal or elastic ties to hold wires together, typically resulting in a feeling of pressure and discomfort among the teeth while they are moving into an ideal position.

Damon Smile uses a technology called self-ligation, a process that eliminates the need for the ties and lessens the feeling of tightness during your treatment with Dr. Bart Benson. Plus, Damon Smile braces use shape-memory wires that are able to move the teeth into position faster, ultimately cutting treatment time. Damon Smile braces also diminish the amount of food and debris that can become trapped along the brackets, allowing for more efficient teeth cleaning. Damon Smile braces are also available with clear brackets to lessen the visual impact and give you a more aesthetically pleasing smile during treatment.

Dr. Bart Benson and our team at Benson Orthodontics can meet with you to discuss all aspects of treatment. With this innovative technique, you can take advantage of many of the same benefits of traditional braces only with greater comfort, less self-consciousness, and in less time.

Please give us a call at our Mt. Juliet or Lebanon, TN office for more information on Damon Smile, or to schedule an initial consultation with Dr. Bart Benson.

Great question! Tooth movement is your body’s natural response to light pressure applied by braces over a period of time (usually two years). Braces work by using brackets that are glued onto your teeth; these brackets have small slots, and that is where Dr. Bart Benson and our team insert orthodontic wires. These wires are held in place by small elastic ties that fit around the brackets. As time passes during your treatment, these wires apply pressure on your teeth, which sets in motion the movement of your teeth into their desired positions. Each of your teeth has a different size and shape to them, as do the brackets. Each bracket is custom-made for the particular tooth on which it’s supposed to fit.

Not long ago, orthodontists had stainless steel wires and that was about it. Today, however, we have a number of different high-tech wires at our disposal to move your teeth faster and more comfortably.

When you first get your braces on, the first wire or two will typically be very flexible, but still strong enough to apply a constant force on your teeth. As your teeth straighten out over time, however, Dr. Bart Benson will use progressively thicker and firmer wires to help move your teeth in place for an ideal bite.

Every time you visit our office for an adjustment, we will swap out the wires in order to keep putting pressure on your teeth, which is why it’s so important for you to keep your adjustment visits during your treatment. Most adjustment appointments are scheduled four to eight weeks apart to give your teeth time to move.

As for rubber bands and elastics, most of our patients will need to wear elastics or rubber bands at some point during their treatments. These elastics typically go from one or more of the upper braces to one or more of the lower braces, and pull on your teeth to move them in the direction they need to move in order to achieve an optimal bite.

If you have any questions about wires, brackets, or elastics, or have any general questions about your treatment, please give us a call at our Mt. Juliet or Lebanon, TN office.