AND HAPPY NATIONAL DENTAL HYGIENE MONTH FROM YOUR TEAM AT ADVANCE ORTHODONTICS!

October celebrates both Halloween and National Dental Hygiene Month, isn’t that ironic?! To honor both celebrations, Advance Orthodontics offers you some quick candy tips. Keep your family’s smile looking great while you enjoy trick-or-treating.

What’s Good and Bad Candy?

GOOD – Chocolate because it’s easy to brush off!
BAD – Hard candy because it can crack or break your tooth!
WORSE – Sour candy because it’s so acidic, it can damage your enamel!

If you must indulge in some candy, just make sure to brush your teeth. Take care of that smile!

Happy Halloween from Advance Orthodontics!

The History of the Toothbrush, Toothpaste and the Habit of Brushing

Where did toothpaste and the toothbrush come from, and why do we brush our teeth twice a day? We explore all these questions and more beginning with the toothbrush and the habit of brushing.

The Toothbrush and Brushing Twice a Day

Did you know the modern toothbrush as we know it wasn’t invented until the late 1930’s? Up until 1938, toothbrush bristles were made from horsehairs, boar hair or feathers. This practice of using natural bristles can be traced back to the Chinese, who would attach bristles from pigs’ necks that were then attached to a bone or bamboo handle. By the 1950s, softer nylon bristles were being made, as people preferred these over the harsher natural bristles thanks to popular brands like Dr. West’s Toothbrushes. Fun fact: the first electric toothbrush was invented in 1939, but wasn’t introduced to the public until the 1960s!

The common practice of brushing your teeth twice a day was not all that common until the end of WWII. Dentistry was often overlooked and viewed as unimportant prior to WWII. Soldiers often looked at dentistry as a burden and more of an inconvenience during the war. Recruits had such bad rotting teeth that the government prioritized healthy teeth, instilling the brushing twice a day rule to their daily routines. Returning soldiers brought back the habit of brushing their teeth twice a day which eventually became common practice amongst the general public.

Toothpaste

Ancient Egyptians are believed to have been the first civilization to start using a paste to clean their teeth around 5000BC, Ancient Greeks and Romans are also known to have used toothpastes, in addition to people in China and India around 500BC.

The ingredients in these ancient toothpastes were quite different from what we find in our toothpastes today. For example, the Greeks and Romans favored ingredients such as crushed bones and oyster shells, while the Chinese used a wide variety of substances in toothpastes over time that have included ginseng, herbal mints and salt.

In the 1800’s early versions of toothpaste contained soap, chalk and betel nut and usually came in a powder. During the 1850s, a new toothpaste in a jar called a Crème Dentifrice was developed and in 1873 Colgate started the mass production of toothpaste in jars.

Up until the early 20th century, toothpastes contained soap which was eventually replaced by other ingredients such as fluoride and sodium lauryl sulphate, a common ingredient in present-day toothpaste.

Well there you have it folks! Brushing our teeth has had a long history spanning thousands of years across various civilizations. Share your thoughts with us and don’t forget to share this post by clicking the social site of your choice below.

Visit us at Advance Orthodontics! Contact us at 713-783-8888 or send us an email.

Summer 2017 is just around the corner and once again, Advance Orthodontics is here to tell you about fun summer foods. Don’t let braces stop you from enjoying refreshing, delicious summer snacks.

The hot weather during summer makes us naturally reach for lighter foods. Plenty of these foods can keep you hydrated as well so you don’t have to stop the summer fun. But be careful about the foods that can get stuck in your teeth, or are too hard. Read on to see what fun foods are best for your braces.

We Recommend You Stick To…

Fruits like watermelon, grapes and berries are sweet and composed mostly of water. They’re easy on the teeth and a great alternative to processed treats—fruits are nature’s candy. Just make sure to cut up harder fruits like apples.

Chips, especially corn chips or hard taco shells, are a food you might want to avoid this summer if you’ve got metal in your mouth. In a similar vein, corn on the cob is better replaced by corn off the cob.

It might be tempting to chew on some ice to cool down, but try to resist the urge. Chewing ice is bad for teeth and worse for braces. Don’t break a bracket… let it melt!

What’s better than a fresh-scooped cone dripping stickily down your fist? Ice cream is the quintessential fun summer food. It’s cold and creamy and full of calcium that strengthens your teeth.

Soup? When the sun is blazing and everything in the distance wiggles like a mirage, how about a cold soup? Gazpacho is a Spanish tomato soup served cold. It’s a perfect refreshing meal for those lazy dog days and should pose no trouble to teeth, braces or not.

Advance Orthodontics hopes you have a great summer and remember to keep up with your visits. Are you new to orthodontic care? Contact us for a consultation today.

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From All Around the World

Magic is the currency of childhood. To believe in elves, goblins, trolls and fairies is one of the pleasures of being little. Some spirits are dark and scary and help kids face their subconscious fears while others are light and sily and bringers of good fortune. The Tooth Fairy is one good sprite.

She (74% of people think the tooth fairy is female) is small, angelic, with wings of gossamer. She is so light on her feet and nimble of finger, that she can slip into your room as you sleep, find your precious tooth under your pillow and take it, without you knowing a thing. And in the tooth’s place she leaves you riches!

For many of us, that meant a shiny quarter under our pillow when we woke in the morning. Very exciting! These days, I hear inflation has hit the Tooth Fairy business and kids are getting more for a tooth!

The earliest recorded legend of the tooth fairy comes from the Norse and Northern European people of the 13th century. In Spain the Perez Mouse is a figure similar to the tooth fairy, originating in Madrid in the 1890s. In Italy she is also replaced by a small mouse named, Toponino.

Did you believe in an angelic fairy flying into your room? A mouse scurrying under your pillow? Tell us!