Is Invisalign® really customized for each patient?

Yes, it is, and that’s part of what makes it work. 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. And since the aligners are virtually invisible, nobody around you will even know you are wearing braces!

Dr. Lach is a certified Invisalign provider in Oveido, FL. If you have questions about Invisalign, or would like to find out if you are a candidate for Invisalign treatment, give us a call at 407-278-8119.

Top Ten Tips for Keeping Your Braces Clean

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:

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

Hope this helps!

-Lach Orthodontic Specialists

Lach Orthodontic Specialists Host Dental Education Night

Dr. Lach sponsors local continued education for general dentists in the area, and our last event was on December 10, 2009 at the Tuskawilla Golf and Country Club in Winter Springs. We've posted a few photos of the event on our Facebook Fan Page, where local dentists were treated to a lecture by Dr. Charles Pankey, one of the world’s finest dental educators.

This event occurs every two months, and is hosted and sponsored by Dr. David Lach. The dental education nights are intended to help sharpen skills and learn the best practices in the field, and are also a social event with food, drinks and fun.

An Important Message from Lach Orthodontic Specialists

Over the past 19 years, it has truly been a privilege and a distinct pleasure to work with some wonderful and amazing families in helping create so many beautiful smiles in our community. However, over the past several months, we have been aware of some unscrupulous individuals who have been creating repeated false and misleading statements on the internet about our practice. Since that time, we have been monitoring the situation very closely and have positively identified the persons responsible for this criminal activity. Our research thusfar indicates that it is only 2 or 3 individuals that are actually responsible for creating all of these false statements and reviews about our practice. We are in the process of a complete and thorough investigation that will ultimately lead to full prosecution of these few individuals for the crimes they have committed.

As you know, we continue to request patient feedback on actual experiences with our office so that we will continue to monitor and improve our services to you. You may provide us your feedback via our website at www.Lach-Ortho.com . Just click on “Active Patient” on the center tool bar on our home page and go to the section under “Patient Satisfaction Survey” in order to submit your comments directly to us. You may also fill out a yellow patient survey slip at your next appointment visit with us or notify an office assistant that you would like to speak to someone and we would be happy to talk to you. Due to the extraordinary technological advances in the field of orthodontics over the years, we have grown very accustomed to creating high quality smiles in a fraction of the time, with far less discomfort and inconveniences than ever before. Along with these immense changes, we realize that your expectations of us as your preferred chosen provider of orthodontic services in our community have also changed. Our overall goal as an office is to continue to find ways to improve our services and deliver according to your evolving standards and expectations. As a result of some of your previously expressed concerns, we have recently implemented several office protocols which we feel will better address your needs.

Since treatment times are much shorter than in the past and appointments are much fewer, we realize that your opportunities for interaction with our staff and doctor have also been reduced. As a result, we would like to now offer routine progress review appointments with me for one on one discussion regarding any and all aspects of your ongoing orthodontic care with us. We believe that these added appointment times will create the optimum forum to foster quality communication between the doctor and patient which will lead to a greater understanding of the progress toward planned treatment goals.

In addition, we have developed community forum meetings which will take place on the first Monday of each quarter in order to address these and all of our office protocols in a closed panel format. At these meetings, we will ask our invited panel of patients and parents to provide us with valued input as to how we can better help serve the needs of our patients. We also are hopeful that this will also lead to greater understanding and awareness of some of our office functions and educate patients and parents on some of the resources that they may not be aware are available.

Our convenient office location allows parents many opportunities to patronize neighboring establishments such as Publix, Kiwi Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt, Blockbuster, etc. In order for me to address any and all of your concerns with treatment personally, please allow us that opportunity by meeting with me chair side at every visit. Our clinical staff are instructed to invite all parents back in the treatment area at every visit and will document your attendance and all questions in the patient chart prior to our important meeting time together. We would like to ask both parents, if at all possible, to be present at each visit in order to address all concerns at once and refrain from leaving the office until the appointment is complete.

As always, I am also available by phone anytime just in case an unanswered question or concern arises. You may also reach me via e-mail at info@Lach-Ortho.com.

We sincerely hope that these newly instituted office protocols will help better address your concerns and exceed your expectations from us. We thank you again for the opportunity and privilege we are given to work together with you.

--Dr. David Lach