SmileOdontics – “a great smile is a good investment”

We’ve had a pretty mild winter – but this weekend storm may prove to be a difficult time to manage roads in our area.  As our most important decision is the well being of our patients – we want to make sure everyone understands what our “policy” for appointments during bad weather…

1) If you are unable to safely drive and keep your appointment – please just contact our office at the earliest time to reschedule.

2) Our office plans to be open at all times we have patients scheduled – unless the road conditions are determined to be unsafe and the county restricts driving.

3) Some patients may live closer to the office and not encounter difficulties, however, some of our staff have to drive a further distance and could make reporting to the office difficult or unsafe.

We appreciate your understanding during the times of inclement weather as well as our being understanding for your situation during the same.  If our office is CLOSED due to weather we will contact patients who leave messages at the next scheduled day of business.  Remember – if you have a Patient Emergency – contact our office or emergency cell phones so that we can do our best to ensure patient comfort.

When you are ready to begin your orthodontic treatment with our office, we will have a series of documents necessary to have reviewed and signed for our files before we can begin.  Specific Financial Agreements will be prepared and presented in the office; however, you may wish to review the following Consent and HIPPA documents so that any questions can be answered.  Please be sure to bring your SIGNED PAGES to the next appointment so that we can scan for our files.

• Consent with Acknowledgement for Orthodontic Treatment

• Full HIPPA Policy

Thank you for your cooperation in helping to save a tree and keep our office “paperless!”

Wire (the wire that goes through each of the brackets for positioning)

Bracket (the part of the brace that is actually cemented to the front surface of the tooth)

Band (the metal band that is placed actually around the back molars)

The mouth is very sensitive to changes and the introduction of any appliance means that the patient should expect a period of adjustment. There may be some occasional discomfort associated with orthodontic treatment. This usually can be resolved by using a simple, over-the-counter headache remedy such as Tylenol or Advil.

To encourage our patients to take care of their braces, we request that you avoid hard and sticky foods, brush after every meal and floss and Water-pik at night. Broken brackets can result in emergency situations as well as causing inconveniences in scheduling for extra-curricular student activities. Our office policy for broken brackets is as follows:

a) Please call the office and alert our office staff of the situation.

b) Repairs for broken brackets are done only in the morning. If a patient is found to have a broken bracket at a “regular” appointment, the bracket will be removed and the patient will be reappointed for the next available morning appointment to re-bond the bracket.

c) There will be a charge of $40 for every broken bracket past four broken brackets (unless undue negligence is noted and then charges apply no matter “how many” broken brackets.)

d) Lack of care of the appliances may result in dismissal from the practice.