Absolutely not! Orthodontic treatment for adults is becoming more and more common. In fact, the number of adults getting braces has actually climbed 24 percent since 1996! More adults than ever are realizing that orthodontic treatment is not just for kids, and can help improve the aesthetics and health of a smile of any age! In a society where appearance matters and can help make the difference between getting a job or a promotion, adults are choosing wisely to invest in orthodontic treatment.

Some of the most common reasons our adult patients come to us considering orthodontic treatment include:

• Teeth that are crowded or spaced apart, sometimes as a result of tooth decay or gum disease
• Pain or pressure from crooked teeth or a misaligned jaw
• A bad bite or malocclusion, causing teeth to fit together incorrectly

Most of all though, adult patients come to our office seeking a healthier mouth and a more confident smile! Orthodontic treatment at our office can be successful at any age, and adults especially can appreciate the benefits of a beautiful smile.

As an adult patient, we recognize that you have different needs than our younger patients, and we will work with you to ensure you receive the most appropriate treatment and that your needs are met with understanding and respect from us.

If you’ve been thinking about getting that perfect smile, we would love to have you visit for a consultation. We understand you have a busy schedule, and will work with you to find a time that is convenient for you. Please visit our website or give our office a call to schedule your appointment today!

Great question! When you first come in for your initial consultation, Dr. Waldman will conduct a comprehensive examination to assess your oral health. This will better enable us to determine the best treatment method for you.

Your orthodontic evaluation will consist of an oral and facial examination to assess your oral health. We will have you take intraoral and facial photographs as well as panoramic and cephalometric X-rays to help determine the proper orthodontic treatment method. Then, an impression of your teeth and bite will be taken to construct a model of your mouth. (This will help us when examining your diagnostic records).

At your second appointment, Dr. Waldman will discuss your options with you. Our team feels it’s important to take the time to carefully examine your diagnostic records after your consultation so that we can more thoroughly prepare for your treatment at Waldman Orthodontics. This additional preparation will ensure that you receive the best orthodontic care possible. At this time, we encourage you to ask us any questions you may have about your treatment.

If you are seeking orthodontic treatment for your child, our staff asks that both you and your child attend the initial consultation. We feel it is important that both you and your child completely understand the doctor’s recommendations before we proceed with treatment.

Give us a call today and schedule a consultation! We look forward to hearing from you!

Our practice is proud to let you know that we will soon be implementing our new Cadent iTero™ digital impression scanner! This incredibly advanced technology will allow us utilize 3D imaging so that we are able to bring you the most precise, effective, and efficient diagnosis for your treatment. And when we have such accurate information to work with, we can deliver brilliant treatment results!

Further, with the iTero 3D digital impression scanner, there is no goop, mess, or discomfort involved with taking your impression! Often times, taking impressions can be very messy and uncomfortable due to the gel-filled trays needed with traditional impression techniques. Patients can even view their impressions right on the screen. We even have a video on our Facebook that showcases the new iTero sacanner!

Our goal is to always provide a hassle-free and enjoyable orthodontic experience that yields incredible results – and our new iTero scanner is going to help us do just that! If you have any questions about impressions, our new iTero scanner, or any other aspect of your orthodontic treatment, please don’t hesitate to contact our office!

Keeping your teeth clean is more important than ever when you have braces. Food bits have more spots than usual to hide in your mouth, so you must be diligent in order to avoid bad breath, swollen gums, discolored teeth and cavities. If you remove plaque regularly during treatment, you'll experience better results and shorter treatment time. Keep plaque at bay with these top ten tips:

1. One tooth at a time. When you brush, take time with each individual tooth – at least 10 seconds each – and pay careful attention to the spots where your teeth touch your braces.

2. It’s all about the angles. Brush the tops of your teeth and braces with your brush angled down toward where they meet. Brush the bottoms of your teeth and braces with your brush angled up.

3. The tooth, the whole tooth, nothing but the tooth. While the front surface of your teeth may seem like the most logical to clean, it’s equally important to clean the inner surface of your teeth (tongue side) as well as the chewing surface. And be sure to clean along your gum line – a key spot for plaque buildup.

4. Step 1: eat, step 2: clean. While you’re in treatment, it’s important to brush after every meal. Bits of food can easily get caught between braces and teeth, and these food bits interact with bacteria in your mouth to cause decay. The longer food is in contact with your teeth, the greater opportunity for plaque to form. If you are eating somewhere that you can’t brush, thoroughly rinse your mouth with water.

5. Like a Boy Scout, always be prepared. The easiest way to be sure you can brush after every meal is to get in the habit of taking a toothbrush, toothpaste and floss with you wherever you go. Designate a special container just for your teeth-cleaning tools and keep it in your purse, backpack, or laptop case.

6. Remove the moving parts. If you have elastic bands or headgear, remove these parts before you brush or floss.

7. Fluoride is your friend. Fluoride helps prevent cavities. Be sure to brush with fluoride toothpaste, and rinse with fluoride mouthwash.

8. Pointy brushes reach tiny places. Interproximal brushes (sometimes called proxa brushes or interdental brushes) are cone-shaped and come in very handy for reaching spots around your braces that standard brushes can’t.

9. Find the floss for you. Regular floss works for some patients, but others find it easier to work with a floss threader, which helps you get the floss into tight places. Other patients like an all-in-one product called Superfloss, which comes with a stiff end for easy threading, a spongy section for cleaning wide spaces, and regular floss for narrow spaces.

10. Make time for the pros. It’s your job to take care of the everyday cleaning. But make sure to visit your dentist regularly while in treatment, to get the deep, thorough cleaning that only a professional can provide. If you need help finding the right Dentist for you, feel free to contact our office - we’d love to help!

Hope this helps!

With spring here, many children, teens and adults will once again pick up the ball, bring the bat out of seasonal retirement, and lace up their cleats to hit the fields for the return of spring sports! You can still play sports even while undergoing orthodontic treatment. If you do play sports, it's recommended that you wear a mouthguard to protect your teeth and your appliances. Let Dr. Waldman know if you need help finding the right mouthguard for the best protection.

April is also National Facial Protection Month, and during this time, we urge our young athletes to play it safe when out on the field. According to the National Youth Sports Safety Foundation, children, high-school athletes and adults will have more than 5,000,000 teeth knocked out in sporting events this year.

Here are a few ways to ensure your or your child’s mouth’s safety this spring:

1. Wear mouth guards for contact sports such as baseball, softball, soccer and lacrosse
2. Wear a helmet
3. Wear protective eyewear
4. Wear a face shield to avoid scratched or bruised skin
5. Be alert, even as a spectator

We hope that helps. Protective gear is vital for anyone engaging in tooth or mouth-threatening activities. If you have any further questions about any of these tips, please contact our office. Stay safe and have fun!

I have been blessed to practice in an era that has witnessed an unprecedented growth in the area of adult orthodontics. It is not uncommon for us to have patients pursue treatment in their retirement years. In fact, we have many grandparents in our practice undergoing orthodontic treatment at the same time as their grandchildren. This certainly represents a significant change from the past, when orthodontics was essentially considered to be a pediatric specialty. Many adults are now encouraged by esthetic alternatives to traditional braces, such as Invisalign, lingual (on the inside) braces, or clear braces.

Many people assume that adults seek orthodontic treatment only to improve the appearance of their teeth and smile, and to improve their professional image. However, there are many other forms of adult orthodontic treatment that have specific health and functional benefits. Here are just a few of the common types of adult orthodontic treatment I routinely perform in my practice:

1) Straightening or uprighting teeth prior to the placement of dental implants.

7) Surgical orthodontic treatment for patients with severe bite problems

If you, or someone you know, are interested in a consultation to assess your adult orthodontic treatment options, please contact our office.

Best Regards,
Dr. Alexander Waldman

When you get braces at Waldman Orthodontics there are a few things you’ll have to adjust to get optimal results in the shortest amount of time. If you have any questions about the “do’s and don’ts” of living with braces, feel free to ask Dr. Alexander Waldman or any member of our staff during your next adjustment!

Eating

When you have braces, there are a few types of food that can damage your brackets and bend your wires, leading to more appointments and longer treatment times. By simply avoiding sticky, chewy, crunchy, and hard foods, as well as foods that require biting into like corn on the cob, your orthodontic experience will be much easier.

Cleaning

You’ll never believe the amount of food that can get stuck between your braces when you eat. In addition to causing bad breath and tooth decay, it looks pretty gross, too. It’s so important to brush your teeth after every meal and floss every day, and even though it’s kind of a hassle, it’ll all be worth it in the end.

Sports

Protecting your smile if you play sports is essential when you have braces. Mouth guards help protect your teeth and gums from injury.

Your smile is totally unique, so the time you’ll need to spend undergoing orthodontic treatment will also be unique. Generally, orthodontic treatment will take about two years, and this is for good reason. During this time, your teeth will slowly move into their desired positions, leaving you with a great smile with as little discomfort as possible. Rushing treatment can result in a less than perfect smile with a greater chance of tooth movement after your treatment is complete. At Waldman Orthodontics, we don’t want to waste your time with treatment that won’t retain your smile for the rest of your life.

Of course, treatment time will vary depending on your specific situation. Very minor tooth movement may only take a few months to correct, while serious malocclusion (poor bite) may need more than two years to correct. Only Dr. Alexander Waldman will be able to accurately estimate the time your treatment will take. But trust us—it’ll all be worth it in the end!

Has your child or teen visited Waldman Orthodontics for a consultation? If not, please give us a call and let us help him or her begin the journey to a gorgeous smile!

Each February for the past 62 years, the American Dental Association (ADA) has sponsored National Children's Dental Health Month to raise awareness about the importance of oral health. Developing good habits at an early age and scheduling regular dental visits helps children get a good start on a lifetime of healthy teeth and gums.

For kids wearing braces, brushing and flossing can become more difficult, requiring extra time and vigilance to remove food particles that accumulate on and between the teeth and in braces. New options for braces such as Invisalign Teen, which is removable, make it easier for kids to maintain good oral health during orthodontic treatment.

If the health of your teeth is ignored during treatment with braces, the results can be significantly compromised. Dr. Waldman is available and happy to explain why effective brushing and flossing is one of the most critical actions needed from patients during orthodontic treatment. Have you visited us lately? Give our Beverly Hills office a call and schedule an appointment!

I am a big fan of the hit TV series “24,” and recently had a “24 hour experience” that came as close to that 24 TV experience as I could ever imagine. No, I was not saving America from a nuclear attack by terrorists, or protecting the President from an assassination plot. Rather, I spent 24 non-stop hours immersing myself in continuing dental education. Here is how it broke down:

Thursday

5:00pm - I finished my last patient. Locked-up the office, headed out.

6:00pm - Attended a monthly meeting of the Multi-Disciplinary Study Group of Beverly Hills and heard a lecture on the topic of Microsurgery and CT diagnosis in Endodontics, by Dr. Fayad of Chicago, IL. Fabulous lecture on the application of new technology to diagnosis of complex endodontic (think root canal) and surgical (think everything you are scared of at the dentist’s office) problems. Seriously, it was impressive to see the advances that are being made in all areas of dentistry to improve the quality of care we deliver.

9:00pm - Quick house call to fix a poking wire. Unlike Jack Bauer, I did not have to knock the door down to get in.

10:00pm - Logged in to the office, designed 3 Invisalign treatments on the computer. Still amazes me how much has changed in our profession in the last decade since the advent of new digital technologies.

11:00pm - Sleep! :)

Friday

8:00am - Attended Los Angeles Center for Oral and Maxillo-Facial Surgery annual Orthognathic (jaw) Surgery Symposium on the topic of 3-D treatment planning. The future is definitely here, and I was intrigued by the potential of using new technology in imaging and 3-D reconstruction for our complex orthodontic and surgical patients.

12:00pm - Lunch :) Did you ever notice that Jack Bauer never eats? Not sure how he makes it for 24 hours.

1:00pm - Attended West Coast ITI study club. This is an implant study club in which we study implant dentistry and other areas of advanced techniques within the practice of dentistry. I was particularly excited that the topic was “surgically assisted orthodontic treatment”. This is a relatively new technique, sometimes called “Wilckodontics” in which a minor surgical procedure is used to speed up routine orthodontic treatment and to expand the scope of care that we can offer our patients

5:00pm - Time to go home and hang out with the family for the weekend.

What an amazing 24 hours it’s been, full of everything I love to do: treating orthodontic patients, creating beautiful smiles, embracing new technology, and learning more about orthodontics and dentistry!! I am sure that Jack Bauer would be jealous!

- Dr. Alexander Waldman

Our patient Jared is bringing in the New Year with a NEW Smile.

From all of us at Waldman Orthodontics, congratulations Jared on completing your orthodontic treatment!

It was worth it! Braces-off celebration day for Waldman Orthodontics' patient, Briana.

Yes, it is, and that’s part of what makes it work, says Dr. Alexander Waldman. To find out if you are the right candidate for Invisalign treatment, the first thing we do is to take an impression of your teeth as they are now and digitize it. Using special software, we look at the current positioning of your teeth and compare it to the way your teeth should look.

Next we use special software to map out the exact path your teeth will take from the beginning of your treatment to the end. Based on the results, a set of custom aligners are created just for your teeth. Throughout the course of treatment, you will be required to wear these clear, removable aligners one at a time; each one moving your teeth closer and closer to their final, perfectly aligned position. The best thing about it all? Nobody around you will even know you are wearing braces!

Dr. Waldman is a certified Invisalign provider.. If you have questions about Invisalign, or would like to find out if you are a candidate for Invisalign treatment, please give our Beverly Hills office a call.

Braces aren’t just for pre-adolescents and teenagers anymore! Dr. Alexander Waldman will tell you that anyone, at any age, can benefit from orthodontic treatment, whether it’s correcting a problem not treated in your younger years, or catching a problem early.

To ensure the best overall treatment, the American Association of Orthodontists, or AAO, recommends that children receive an orthodontic consultation as early as age seven. If a problem is evident, taking action early can spare a lot of treatment and expense down the road.

If you never received orthodontic treatment when you were young, don’t worry! You’re never too old for a beautiful smile. Set up an appointment for a consultation and find out how orthodontics will transform your smile, as well as your life!

With the hustle and bustle of the holiday season knocking at our door, our entire team at Waldman Orthodontics wanted to stop for a moment and extend our best wishes to you, our patients, referring doctors and families, for a wonderful Thanksgiving.

As always, if you know anyone we can help, just let us know. We promise to give them the same quality orthodontic care that we have given you.

We hope that this Thanksgiving and holiday season brings fond memories. Thank you for being part of our family.