We work with our patients to make sure that they not only leave our office with super straight teeth, but they also take with them a beautifully healthy smile to last a lifetime. Keeping your teeth and gums healthy in braces can sometimes be a bit tricky since there are so many more nooks and crannies for plaque and food to accumulate. From years of experience, we have learned a lot about what factors can be the difference between a healthy smile and an unhealthy one, and we want to share them with patients and non-patients alike.

Don’t forget to recommend our office to your friends!

Cavities are mainly the result of poor quality bacterial plaque built up on your teeth, which is why each of our new patients are specially screened for cavity causing bacteria. By doing so, we understand their individual risk for cavities before beginning treatment and can take steps to help patients prevent them from occurring. Believe it or not, bacteria are actually necessary to keep your teeth lubricated for chewing and more importantly to physically exclude pathogenic bacteria from inhabiting the mouth and causing worse disease than cavities. Unfortunately, some of these “helpful bacteria” happen to produce acids that demineralize your enamel and over time make cavities.

In order to avoid cavities, you obviously need to keep your teeth clean, and also create an environment in your mouth that is more hospitable to bacteria that do not produce acids. Here is how you can do it:

• Brush and floss your teeth in the morning before breakfast so that there are fewer bacteria in the mouth when you introduce food that the bacteria could use to multiply and make acids. Also brush and floss before going to bed each night since during sleep your mouth is driest and there is less saliva to buffer acids in the mouth.

• Use a low abrasive toothpaste with fluoride, like Pronamel, with a soft bristled tooth brush or better yet an electric tooth brush. High abrasives can remove the protein pellicle that coats the surface of your teeth to help them resist acids. The pellicle is like the skin of your teeth. If you are not sure if your toothpaste is highly abrasive, rub some between your fingers, you shouldn’t feel any grittiness. Try to avoid doing this in the store

• Avoid, as much as possible, acidic foods and drinks like candies, sodas, kombucha, etc. Your tooth enamel begins to demineralize below a pH of 5.5

• Rinse before bedtime with an alcohol-free mouthwash that has a basic pH. Alcohol doesn’t actually do much to kill bacteria, and functions in mouthrinses mainly as a solvent. Notoriously “alcoholic” rinses like Listerine kill bacteria using essential oils. Alcohol will however dry out your mouth which is counterproductive. The majority of mouthwashes also unfortunately have an acidic pH; the low pH stabilizes the ingredients and increases shelf-life. We supply every new patient with specially formulated Carifree Prevention Rinses for exactly this reason. If you want to get a similar rinse without a Doctor’s prescription, try Tom’s of Maine Natural Baking Soda Mouthwash. Its the only readily available mouthwash with a basic pH that I have been able to find. If you’re a DIYer, you can always make your own baking soda rinse, but I think it’s easier just to buy it at the store.

• If your dentist thinks you are at a very high risk for cavities, he might recommend swishing with a baking soda rinse after meals to reverse any drop in pH that might result from bacterial metabolism of sugars. Swishing with water is a less effective, but a satisfactory solution for the rest of us (you also won’t have to carry a bottle of mouthwash around all day).

I hope you all found this post helpful. Happy brushing!

The votes have been counted, and its official!!! You can now tell all your friends that you’re having your teeth straightened by the Best Orthodontist in the Lehigh Valley. The results will be published in the June issue of Lehigh Valley Magazine. Pick up an issue off the newstand and look for us.

Thank you so much to everyone who voted in the LV Mag’s survey. We have the best patients, and we couldn’t have done it without you!

In case you have been living under a rock for the past few months, the Lehighton Girls Field Hockey team won the PIAA AA State Championship this year! Our patient Abby Frey (no relation) is on the team and we thought we should throw the gals a pizza party at Verona’s for their jacket ceremony. Congratulations girls! Here are some fun photos from the event….

I am sure that a lot of parents looking to find the right orthodontist, for either themselves or their children, feel a bit overwhelmed with the number of options out there. Fortunately, there are many resources that can make the whole process much easier. A beautiful smile is an important investment. Hopefully, after reading this post you can be more comfortable choosing an orthodontist in your area….at least with respect to Invisalign.

The best place to begin your search for an Invisalign provider is on the find a preferred provider page at Invisalign’s official site. Enter your zip code, and you will get a list of results of Invisalign providers (dentists and orthodontists) in your area along with a great big map.

So why does all this even matter?!…the search results are ordered by the number of Invisalign cases each provider completed last year. This doesn’t necessarily mean the providers at the top have the most overall experience with Invisalign, but the ones that treated the most cases the previous year will be at the top.

You’ll notice that there are three categories of providers: Preferred, Premier, and Premier Elite. It would be nice if they gave you an actual answer about what these categories mean, but luckily I am here to give you the inside scoop.

Just to offer some background, before any dentist or orthodontist can offer Invisalign to their patients they must complete a one day training course. Dentists complete a course called Clear Essentials I and orthodontists complete the Clear Principles training course.

Anyway… here is the down low on those proficiency levels:

Preferred Provider:
• Complete 10 continuing education Invisalign classes per year (online or in-person)
• Treat 10 cases per year
• This is now the minimum yearly requirement for any provider of Invisalign

Premier Provider:
• Complete 10 continuing education Invisalign classes per year (online or in-person)
• Has treated at least 50 cases lifetime
• Treat at least 24 cases every 6 months

Premier Elite Provider:
• Complete 10 continuing education Invisalign classes per year (online or in-person)
• Has treated at least 300 cases lifetime
• Treat 48 cases every 6 months

Warning! Be on the look out for these categories because sometimes they are hard to see…

You might also notice some providers have an extra Invisalign Teen tag in the additional information section. That means that they treat at least 4 patients between the ages of 11 and 19 each quarter counting as part of their total number of cases.

If you want to be really crafty…you can perform an advanced search and filter for orthodontists only.

I feel that it is essential to quickly explain the difference between an orthodontist and a dentist.  Yes, they are both doctors and yes, they both work on teeth.  If you are like me, you want the best care for both you and your children.  It is important to know that orthodontists went to dental school, and beyond that, they also completed a 2-3 years residency in orthodontics.  In this residency, they study healthy and efficient tooth movement as well as how to care for patients for a long term healthy smile.

Dentists often times are a less expensive option than an orthodontist and both are certified to treat patients with Invisalign.  Although there is usually a difference in price, orthodontists are specialists in tooth movement.  I highly recommend having the ‘orthodontist only’ box checked at allllll times.

Whew…..Now that we are through all that technical mumbo jumbo, and you have narrowed down your options, you just need to pick the doctor you like! You or your child are going to be coming back for several appointments make sure the staff and the doctor make you feel comfortable.

Super Savvy Shopper tip!!!!!

As important as clinical experience is, actual results are far more important.

• Find friends or even strangers with smiles that you like and ask them who did their braces.

• Schedule more than one consultation for different opinions.

• Look at different websites’ patient photos, and compare smiles. Unfortunately, a lot of dental and orthodontic websites out there use stock photos. At my orthodontic offices in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley, we only use actual patient photos. If you aren’t sure if a website’s photos are real just ask the receptionist when you call in.

Word for the wise: Invisalign is a great tool for straightening teeth, but it is by no means a magic wand. You should definitely consult with your orthodontist or dentist to find out if it is the right choice for you.

We were selected as the Morning Call’s Reader’s Choice Best Orthodontist in the Lehigh Valley. Thank you to everyone who voted for us. We couldn’t have done it without you!

If you haven’t already, make sure you head over to our Facebook Page, become a fan, and vote for your favorite video in our FreySmiles Got Talent Contest. We have gotten a lot of great entries so far. I am sure you will like them; I know I do!

If you are feeling especially creative, submit your own video for the contest. Maybe yours is good enough to win the grand prize! Rules and prize information can be found in the Got Talent Contest tab on our Facebook page.

Lehigh Valley Magazine’s Best of the Valley 2010

Click Here to Vote

Now you can ask the FreySmiles orthodontic team all your burning questions, give us feedback, and discuss our office with other patients in the FreySmiles Google Group. If you have something to say we are hear to listen. The staff and I will be reading every post and try to respond as quickly as we can.

You can also share your great ideas about how we can improve our office by dropping them in our FreySmiles Idea Box. It is really easy to add your suggestions, and you can even vote on whose idea you like the best!

Posts in our Google Group & ideas we really like will win prizes and have their topics featured on our blog. We look forward to hearing from you!

July 2009- Scott Frey graduated from  the University of the Pacific dental school.  An honors graduate, Scott is on faculty at the dental school  and is  doing research for the orthodontic department. He intends to begin an orthodontic residency program next year.  Scott’s brother Dan will begin dental school at Temple University this fall.  Mom, Dana, is an honor dental hygiene graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.  Dad,  Dr Gregg Frey, had the honor of “hooding” his son during the graduation ceremony.

Megan is attending Embry Riddle Aeronautical University as a Space Physics major.  She is a member of the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps  at Embry Riddle as a 4th Class Midshipmen. When she graduates Megan will commission as a Lieutenant . As of now Megan is still undecided on whether to commision in aviation or as a surface warfare officer.  Later, Megan would be eligible to become a public affairs officer who plans events for the President and is a media representative for the Navy.  With her smile, Megan will have no problem as a public affairs officer.