Willow Bend Orthodontics Blog

If you wore braces as a teen, you probably remember the excitement of seeing your straight smile for the first time. However, it’s common for teeth to gradually shift over the years, especially if you forgot to wear your retainers or your bite changed with age. If your teeth have become crooked again, you may wonder if Invisalign can help you regain your confident smile without going back to metal braces.

The good news? Invisalign is an excellent solution for many adults who have had braces in the past and want to discreetly straighten their teeth again.

Patients often think their orthodontic treatment is done when the brackets come off or there aren’t any more aligners. The reality is that there is another crucial step: the retention phase. This is crucial because upwards of 50% of patients experience orthodontic relapse, which is when the teeth move back into their previously misaligned positions. Retainers help prevent that from happening! To keep yours in pristine condition, we recommend:

Your jaw hurts, and you were told you have something called a temporomandibular joint disorder – or “TMD” for short. Fortunately, your treatment outlook is pretty good. Many TMDs can be solved with the help of orthodontics, and you have plenty of options! You’re just wondering how they all compare. How long will each treatment take to complete, for example?

Keep reading, and you’ll learn about the average timeline for various TMD solutions in Plano.

If you had braces or aligners when you were younger, your orthodontist probably concluded your treatment by presenting you with a clean, sparkly retainer.  Retainers are an important step in your smile journey, because they maintain the results of your treatment. Unfortunately, however, that means if you don’t wear them regularly, your teeth can shift back out of alignment.

If you haven’t been wearing yours as instructed and have noticed some movement in your smile, you may be wondering if you can push your teeth back into place by wearing them again. Here’s why that won’t work, and why wearing your retainers is so vital to maintaining your smile!

You’re finally nearing the end of your Invisalign treatment. There’s no doubt you’re excited to greet the world with your newly straightened smile, but your orthodontist has thrown a curveball at you. You have Invisalign attachments, and they need to be removed before your treatment can be considered complete. Unlike your clear trays, these attachments are fixed to your teeth. So how is your orthodontist going to remove them, and will it hurt?

This post will cover this and more; just keep reading for the answers!

While you’re out grocery shopping, you’re in the school drop-off line, or you’re at the mall, you might notice children and teenagers with braces. Does that mean the ship has sailed on having straight teeth? Or can you get braces when you’re over 40? To learn the answer, keep reading!

Would you like to straighten your teeth, or have you observed that your child might need orthodontic care? If so, you might be wondering about the cost of treatment. Does dental insurance cover braces and other orthodontic services, or will you be left on your own to pay? This blog post provides some helpful information.

If you’ve ever completed any type of orthodontic treatment before, you may already be the proud owner of a retainer. Retainers are used to maintain your orthodontic results. When you first get yours, you may need to wear it round the clock, but eventually you should be able to keep your teeth in alignment by just wearing it to bed. If you’ve had yours for a while, you may be wondering when you may need to replace it. Here’s how to tell if time is up for your orthodontic equipment!

Cavities, jaw pain, teeth grinding, and other oral health issues are very common. Fortunately, your general dentist is often equipped to address such conditions and prevent them from having a great impact on your health and quality of life. But what if, despite your efforts to care for your smile, oral health problems continue to recur? You might have a form of dental misalignment. This blog post explores how misalignment may be the underlying cause behind a range of issues and how orthodontic treatment can help.

Teenagers are already a fairly self-conscious bunch without orthodontic treatment thrown into the mix. Invisalign clear aligners makes dental realignment far less conspicuous, but your highschooler might need some nudging to stay on top of maintenance in front of their academic peers. Here are some tips that can help encourage them to power through their Invisalign treatment.