LAKEVILLE, PRIOR LAKE AND BURNSVILLE, MN – Players in the Lakeville Football Association are getting some assistance from us in the safety department this summer.

We’re giving away free mouth guards to players in an effort to help them protect their teeth while they’re on the field.

Players can come to our Lakeville or Prior Lake orthodontics locations to be fitted for custom mouth guards.

For Dr. Trudy Bonvino, who treats patients from the surrounding communities of Shakopee, Savage and Burnsville, pediatric orthodontics goes beyond just brackets and elastics.

“Whether a child is in active orthodontic treatment or not, we encourage them to keep safety in mind when they’re playing sports,” she says. “A hit to the mouth can damage your brackets and cause serious cuts to the soft tissue in your mouth. But even if you don’t have braces, you can cause damage to your teeth and their alignment. We’re providing mouth guards to protect against these possibilities.”

It is important to note that if you are in Invisalign or Invisalign Teen treatment, you still need to wear a mouth guard while participating in contact sports because the Invisalign aligners do not offer adequate protection against blows to the mouth.

In addition to protecting the teeth, a mouth guard that fits properly also can protect players from concussion. Just as helmets and pads protect the body, mouth guards provide a cushion for the teeth and prevent the upper and lower jaws from being slammed together during a tackle. For more information on the signs and symptoms of concussions, please visit the Lakeville Football Association’s website.

© 2013 Sinai Marketing and Dr. Jennifer Eisenhuth. Authorization to post is granted, with the stipulation that Sinai Marketing and Dr. Jennifer Eisenhuth are credited as sole source. Linking to other sites from this article is strictly prohibited, with the exception of herein imbedded.

PRIOR LAKE, LAKEVILLE AND BURNSVILLE, MINNESOTA-The holiday perhaps most closely associated with love is right around the corner. That’s right- Valentine’s Day is your time to smile at and pucker up with your significant other.

But for those of you who find yourselves single as the special day approaches, this could be a good time to consider smile improvement with braces or Invisalign treatment, says Dr. Trudy Bonvino of Cosmopolitan Orthodontics, a Lakeville and Prior Lake orthodontics practice.

On the surface, you might think we’re stretching things a bit to suggest a better smile can land you the guy or girl of your dreams. Believe it or not, there are studies that prove people give a lot of weight to a person’s smile.

Several years ago, the American Dental Association, Crest and Oral B conducted a study that showed the smile is the feature people find most engaging.

The changing dating methods might actually hint at the smile being more important than ever.

“Think about how people date these days,” says Dr. Bonvino, an orthodontist whose patients come from Burnsville, Farmington, Shakopee and other neighboring communities. “So many people go online. That means many people likely make the decision to reach out based on your profile picture, and not just your bio.”

Your profile picture gives you a chance to put your best face forward. If you’re not smiling with your lips open, that might be a signal to a would-be suitor that you’re hiding something you’re not proud of.

Orthodontic treatment can fixed crowded or crooked teeth, gaps between teeth, overbites and myriad other bite and alignment issues. It’s also worth mentioning that life with braces doesn’t have to include metal brackets and wires on your teeth, which might make you want to continue smiling with your lips closed.

Dr. Bonvino treats patients with Invisalign, lingual braces (they go on the backs of your teeth) and ceramic brackets that are the color of your teeth.

So if you’re single this Valentine’s Day and want to take steps to ensure that isn’t the case much longer, consider consulting an orthodontist. You’re likely to get treatment you can really smile about.

© 2013 Sinai Marketing and Dr. Jennifer Eisenhuth. Authorization to post is granted, with the stipulation that Sinai Marketing and Dr. Jennifer Eisenhuth are credited as sole source. Linking to other sites from this article is strictly prohibited, with the exception of herein imbedded links.

Credit: fropki.com

LAKEVILLE AND PRIOR LAKE, MINNESOTA – For a lot of children, mention the term “impacted canines” and they’re likely to envision a dog in a cage.

But what we’re actually talking about are your canine teeth. Having an impacted canine tooth is a common issue frequently treated by orthodontists, including Dr. Trudy Bonvino, the specialist on staff here at our Lakeville and Prior Lake orthodontics offices.

An impacted canine is another way of saying the tooth is unable to move and grow into the right position, perhaps as a result of teeth crowding, according to the American Dental Association. This prevents it from functioning properly. It is most common for the wisdom teeth to be impacted, but it frequently happens to the upper canines, too.

The canine teeth are located outside of the incisors and they commonly have the longest roots of all the teeth. Your kids may call them their eyeteeth or “fangs,” due to their location and shape.

There are a number of reasons a tooth may become impacted, such as:

• Additional teeth may be in the way of eruption
• Unusual mouth growths
• Extreme crowding or not enough space for the teeth to come through
• The jawbone getting in the way of eruption

The best time to start treatment is when the diagnosis is made, preferably during childhood.

“The American Association of Orthodontists recommends every child be evaluated around age 7,” says orthodontist Dr. Bonvino, Minneapolis orthodontist. “This early analysis can be key to making the best treatment decision.”

The longer the tooth stays impacted, the more difficult the procedure of uncovering it may be. One consequence of waiting includes the tooth/teeth fusing into place. If this happens, the only correction option may be surgery.

In most cases, Dr. Bonvino and an oral surgeon work together on a treatment plan. Dr. Bonvino places braces on the upper teeth and a space is made for the canine to erupt. Then she refers her patient to an oral surgeon, who lifts the gum around the impacted tooth and puts a temporary anchorage device in place. Then a tiny chain is connected to the tooth, which pulls the canine into the correct position. If the tooth will not cooperate even with a guided path, it will need to be extracted surgically and a dental implant put in its place. This is only in extreme cases or for patients who put off corrective treatment.

“The canine teeth are one of the last and most important teeth to come into place- normally by age 13,” says the Minneapolis invisible braces provider. “They finish the alignment process of the teeth naturally and close the gaps that may be between some of the front teeth.”

If children or adults are missing or has an impacted canine, it can greatly affect the function and the overall appearance of the smile, says Invisalign treatment provider Dr. Bonvino.

© 2012 Cosmopolitan Orthodontics and Master Google. Authorization to post is granted, with the stipulation that Cosmopolitan Orthodontics and Master Google are credited as sole source. Linking to other sites from this article is strictly prohibited, with the exception of herein imbedded links.

PRIOR LAKE, SAVAGE AND LAKEVILLE, MINNESOTA- It has been said that the mouth is the window to your overall health because what goes on in the mouth can be an indicator of other health issues including heart disease and diabetes.

“Today, we’re sharing information about the oral health/whole body connection, but we won’t go all the way to the heart. Instead, we’ll stop at the tonsils and adenoids,” says Dr. Bonvino, a Prior Lake orthodontics expert.

[More]

SAVAGE AND PRIOR LAKE, MINNESOTA – We know that lots of young patients at our Savage and  Prior Lake orthodontics office will be involved in sports this summer, so with that in mind, we’re taking the opportunity to remind parents and patients that a mouth guard is a must.

If your child has a mouth guard, bring it in and let us check it for a proper fit. If your child needs a mouth guard, we can make a custom one at our office.

Even for non-contact sports, they are a good idea, says Dr. Trudy Bonvino, a Savage and Prior Lake Invisalign provider. [More]

PRIOR LAKE, ST. PAUL AND MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA – The main goal of braces is to align teeth and promote better oral health, but we at the Prior Lake, MN orthodontics office of Cosmopolitan Orthodontics have learned some lessons through the years about braces’ other benefits.

Dr. Trudy Bonvino, a Prior Lake orthodontics expert who is the orthodontist on staff at Cosmopolitan, has seen braces come to the rescue of some of our patients- particularly those actively involved in sports.

Orthodontic appliances such as wires and brackets have helped prevent some of our patients from having their teeth knocked out on a few occasions. Even our Invisalign patients seem to derive some benefit from wearing their aligners in those odd instances when they’ve been hit in the mouth by a stray elbow or ball while involved in sports, says Dr. Bonvino, who also is a Prior Lake Invisalign provider. [More]

Prior Lake – You may already know about iPods, iTunes and iPhones, but have you heard of iBraces?

While this technological advancement won’t enable you to text your friends or play your favorite songs, iBraces can help you achieve a great smile, said Prior Lake orthodontics Dr. Jennifer Eisenhuth.

iBraces are available at Cosmopolitan Orthodontics, a Lakeville practice that Eisenhuth opened in June. Dr. Trudy Bonvino, a Prior Lake braces expert, is the orthodontist on staff there. [More]