MIAMI, CORAL GABLES AND BRICKELL, FLORIDA – As the summer winds down and students prepare to return to college, now is the time to squeeze in a dental check-up, cleaning and an appointment for the final orthodontic check-up before leaving.
Most students who attend college out of town maintain their dental and orthodontic appointments with their providers back home, which sometimes leaves small windows of opportunity to get the treatment they need, says Miami Invisalign orthodontist Dr. Stephen Grussmark.
“Parents and students alike work diligently to schedule appointments in the summer and over Thanksgiving, Christmas and Spring breaks,” says the South Beach braces provider.
If you are a patient in conventional braces, you should have adjustments made and a check-up to ensure all brackets and wires are intact before you return to your campus. It’s a good idea to do this as close as possible to the time you leave for school, since you may have to go a bit longer between check-ups once back at school. “With Invisalign, it’s relatively easy to continue the progress of orthodontic treatment while students are away at college,” according to Dr. Grussmark.
For example, we often give the Invisalign patients additional Invisalign aligners to get them through until their next anticipated break from school. For this reason, Invisalign treatment is quite conducive to college situations, since there are very few emergencies, such as breakage, and appointments can very often go for longer intervals. The Invisalign patient wears each aligner for about two weeks before moving on to the next aligner in the series. Giving a few extra aligners would allow for longer intervals between appointments without losing any progress on their treatment.
Dental Visits
Dental check-ups and cleanings are very important. If you have dental sealants on your teeth, which may have been placed at a much younger age by the dentist, they may wear over time and would need monitoring. Sealants are a plastic coating applied to the molars to protect them from the bacteria that leads to tooth decay.
Many college students today had dental sealant applications when they were children, and it’s imperative that those sealants be checked periodically because they don’t last forever- they wear away over time. Sometimes sealants are capable of lasting for extended periods of time; however, they should be monitored to ensure there are no chips, cracks or worn areas that could affect the health of the underlying tooth.
“You don’t want to run into problems with cavities while you’re far away from home and your family dentist,” Dr. Grussmark says.
If you follow good oral hygiene habits, two dental visits and professional cleanings per year should be adequate to maintain good dental health. That makes those appointments easy to schedule around college. So make your appointment now. Doing so helps increase your chance of keeping your teeth healthy for a lifetime.
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