Faithfully wearing a dental appliance can be tricky for your adult patients, much less your youngest ones. As you know, children don’t have the longest attention span or the greatest tolerance for following rules for retainer and/or appliance wear.

How can you help increase compliance? Try turning compliance into a game -- complete with rewards. Your game can take on different characteristics, but you’ll definitely need to recruit parents to help.

Ask parents to keep track of each day the child wears the appliance (correctly) as directed. When the child reaches a certain amount of successful days, you give them a prize. It may be something simple, like adding their picture to a special “superstar board” in your office or even a token of appreciation like a small toy.

Track compliance to see if it improves. And don’t forget to insist on the best quality appliance – make sure your dentist’s pediatric dental lab of choice is SML. 

If you need to maintain a patient’s arch length, consider the effective and simple Lingual Arch U/L, one of our most popular arch length appliances. The Lingual Arch is a simple retainer that does a fantastic job of preventing mesial and lingual tipping of the molars while maintaining arch length for your patient.

This retainer can be manufactured in a number of ways, though the most popular design is to have an arch wire soldered to two bands.   

When a patient complains of jaw pain, headaches, tooth pain or stiff jaw, one potential cause is bruxism -- more commonly known as teeth grinding. Since many patients grind their teeth unconsciously in their sleep, it behooves the dentist to carefully monitor the condition of a patient’s teeth, supporting tissues, TM joints, and mastication muscles to determine whether bruxism is the reason for your patient’s complaints.

Should you discover evidence of bruxism, it’s time to start considering solutions. In some cases, a custom dental splint can help. While a splint won’t stop the episodes of bruxism, it can distribute the considerable grinding pressure among the teeth, helping to reduce specific damage and alleviate jaw pain. Another option? Fabricate a custom mouth guard to protect the patient’s teeth.

Comprised of quality labs all across the globe, SML (Space Maintainers Laboratories) can create a custom dental splint or mouth guard that will bring relief to your bruxing patients. Call us!

Sure, these days most children with crooked teeth are quickly put into braces, but that wasn’t always the case. If you’re an adult with crooked teeth considering dental treatment braces, don’t let your fears or feelings get in the way. You are far from alone!

Attention Dentists: your patients’ privacy is important. You need to ensure that you keep their records and information safe, both at your office and whenever you transfer information. This is true when you send patient files, x-rays, and diagnostic notes to your preferred dental lab.

Have you ever asked your dental lab how they treat your patient information…or what security protocols they have in place? At SML (Space Maintainers Laboratories), we are dedicated to safeguarding your patient data and adhering to all HIPAA regulations.

That is why we’ve implemented a secure, HIPAA-compliant, password protected portal -- the SML Digital Portal -- that all our clients use to transmit data. Through this portal, dentists can submit their patient files -- and our trained consultants can offer assistance with patient consultations, diagnoses, treatment planning, and care presentations.

If your dental lab doesn’t take online data security seriously, consider switching to SML.  

Ready to do something about your crooked teeth?  Your orthodontist is the one to see. Today, you have more braces options than ever, including traditional metal braces, less visible clear braces, and even Invisalign trays. If you’ve never had braces before, you might assume that once the braces come off, your teeth will be permanently straight forever.

Well, not exactly. While braces do a great job of moving your teeth into an optimal position, your teeth don’t always want to stay there. They don’t just stop moving once you get them in the right place. In fact, it’s very common for teeth to begin shifting back to their old positions after the braces come off.  That’s why your orthodontist will almost certainly direct you to wear a custom dental retainer to keep reminding your teeth where they belong. Some you may wear all day long initially, some only at night, some just a little of both to do the trick.

Custom dental retainers – although not as great as wearing no retainer at all – will help you keep your perfect smile for life. 

If your teeth are generally crooked, chances are that your dentist is going to refer you to an orthodontist, but what happens if only one or two teeth are out of alignment? For smaller jobs, your dentist may recommend using a retainer. If a few teeth need to move back, the metal bar on the retainer can apply consistent pressure on the teeth to bring them back in line. If you have one or two teeth that need to move forward, a mini-screw appliance is a better option. This type of appliance looks similar to a typical retainer, but mini-screws in back of the device press behind individual teeth to slowly push them forward.

Whether you think that you need a retainer or a mini-screw appliance, it is best to speak with your dentist first about what you want to accomplish. Give your dentist a call today to learn more.

If you lucked out in the gene pool and developed a good set of teeth, then your experience with the dentist may have only consisted of bi-yearly cleanings, x-rays, and maybe an admonishment to floss more often. However, your dentist is actually capable of much more than just cleaning your teeth.

Your dentist can fill cavities, perform root canals, put in crowns, and solve a mouthful of problems with perfect-fit dental appliances made just for you. Dental appliance manufacturing ensures that custom fit in everything from corrective splints to protective mouth guards to life-saving sleep apnea devices.

Oftentimes, your dentist does not create these devices in the office. Rather, dental appliance manufacturing is performed by a third party dental lab, like SML Global, using x-rays, bite molds, and measurements submitted by your dentist.

Hopefully, you won’t experience any unpleasant dental issues that require a custom oral device, but if you do, you can be sure that your dentist  -- and SML -- will create an appliance that will fit you perfectly.

Every child is prone to developing unhealthy habits to deal with stress, boredom, or anxiety. Some children bite their nails or suck their thumbs. Others chew on their lips or even pull out eyebrow hairs. If your child bites her cheeks, you may wonder how to help her.

Cheek biting isn’t just an unpleasant habit, it’s also painful. It can make eating torturous…and open mouth wounds can prove an invitation to infection and serious health consequences.

There is something you can do. It starts with a visit to your dentist. Your dentist can work with a dental manufacturing lab like SML Global to create a customized oral device. e.g. the  Cheek Biting Inhibitor U , for your child.This particular advice is completely painless and places shields within your child’s mouth that make it impossible for her to bite her cheeks. Over time, the habit will become a thing of the past. 

Back in the day, the Upper Jackson Appliance was one of the very first removal expansion appliances on the market. For many years it was highly popular and provided consistent results for patients.

The Upper Jackson’s time in the dental spotlight was not meant to last. Along came the simple-to-adjust expansion screw, which was much easier for dentists to use. The new expansion screw became the popular kid on the block, but does that mean the Upper Jackson must fade into obscurity?

Actually, the Upper Jackson may still be a relevant appliance to keep in your repertoire. It is especially useful when different levels of arch development are required. The Upper Jackson can be adjusted (at the body wire) with 139 Bird Beak Plier or (at the acrylic extension) with three-prong pliers.

Don’t overlook the welcome simplicity of the Upper Jackson Appliance.