“Mom, I don’t need a mouthguard. No one ever gets hurt.” This is the commonly held view of most kids in sports today. Many think that wearing a mouthguard is not cool. Thinking about it clearly, what really is not cool is getting your teeth knocked out. According to the Academy of General Dentistry, 15 million Americans suffer dental injuries and 5 million teeth are avulsed (knocked out) each year from sports-related injuries. During a single athletic season, athletes have a 1 in 10 chance of suffering a facial or dental injury. The fact is that injuries to the face occur frequently and your teeth can be protected if you are wearing a mouthguard. The American Dental Association has published articles that show that wearing a mouthguard  has been shown to reduce the risk of sport-related dental injuries.

As a private practice orthodontist practicing at Bruner Orthodontics in Redmond, WA and Duvall Orthodontics in Duvall, WA, I often get calls from my dental colleagues asking me for help in treating patients that have had mouth injuries. When something hits your teeth at high velocity and high force, your teeth will break (fracture) or be knocked out (avulsed). There are often concomitant injuries to the surrounding soft tissue (lips and face) and bones of the jaw and face.

Here are some examples…

CASE #1

These teeth were smashed in at a basketball game and now the young man, who just moments before had a perfect bite, could not get his teeth to come together:The physician at the game did his best to examine the young athlete and to help re-position the teeth. However, it wasn’t until the young man was in my office, examined and made comfortable with adequate anesthesia, that I was able to re-position his teeth back to a more ideal position. His bite improved but, was not restored. Worse, his teeth were now very mobile. The Scientific Literature supports the idea that these traumatized teeth can be splinted back in place. However, the best splints are the ones that allow for some tooth movement. If the teeth are fixed too rigidly, the teeth will ankylose (fuse to the bone). To prevent ankylosis it is desired to splint the teeth in such a way that they can move slightly during normal function. This movement is called physiologic mobility. One of the best splints following trauma is to have fixed orthodontic appliances (braces) with a light gentle arch wire in place.This patient will undergo limited orthodontic treatment to stabilize his teeth, and help them to move back into their ideal position without ankylosis.

CASE #2

While on vacation, this patient fell and hit her teeth on the bathtub of her hotel room. Her dentist splinted her teeth nicely. She was referred to the endodontist (root canal specialist) to see if she would need endodontic therapy (root canal treatment). The endodontist recognized that the patient’s bite was off and that her splint was too rigid and so the endodontist referred her immediately to me for evaluation.
Again, I anesthetized the patient, repositioned the teeth and splinted them in place with braces and a light arch wire that would allow physiologic tooth movement and bite correction during the healing phase.Now she is back to the bite she always had and almost ready to have her braces off.

Case #3

At Home Depot, this patient was hit in the face when something fell off a high shelf. The dentist rigidly splinted his teeth back in place:

Dental Treatment                                                             vs                                                   My Ortho Treatment

Again the endodontist referred the patient to me to help him achieve the healthiest and best result. Here you can see the the braces are not just locking the teeth into a poor position but acting to stabilize and improve the bite at the same time.

Case #4

This young man was in the outfield at his baseball game when he lost the high fly ball in the sun. It came down and hit him right in the face. Thankfully he was already in braces. The braces likely saved his teeth from being avulsed.

After thoroughly examining his hard and soft tissue I helped him get comfortable with anesthesia, then re-positioned his teeth and placed a new light gentle force arch wire into his braces. You can see how they quickly corrected!

Case #5

Another high school baseball player gets routed to me on a late weekend evening. The baseball had hit him in the face and knocked out his front tooth.
I built up his tooth with composite, placed his braces and tied in his light gentle arch wire. Now he had his gentle force splint in place and his bite improved in the weeks to follow.Soon we were able to take his braces off and he was back to where he started.

At Bruner Orthodontics, we recognize the risk of trauma to all of our patients that compete in contact sports. With the number of injuries that are reported each year it is clear that the best thing you can do for yourself or the athlete in your family is to get a mouthguard and wear it. We are committed to helping provide great oral health for everyone. In fact, if you can’t afford to get a mouthguard give us a call. We provide free mouth guards to not only our patients but to all athletes in our community.

Dr. Matt Bruner and Dr. Lindsey Helgen run a world class orthodontic practice in Redmond and Duvall, WA. If you or someone you know is in need of orthodontic care please give us a call at our office: 425-883-3353. Now be safe and wear your mouthguard!

The post Why You Should Wear a Mouthguard – Dealing with Dental Trauma appeared first on Bruner Ortho.

Every day for the first four months of 2015 we had our great patient Hot Shot Contest going on. Patients that were on time to their appointment, had worn their intra-oral elastics as prescribed, were brushing their teeth well and hadn’t broken any of their braces were given the chance to shoot a basket and immediately win a movie pass or girl scout cookies (purchased from our Girl Scout patients of course).

Anyone that made a basket was invited back to the final shootout for a fun time and a chance to win Beats Headphones!

As always our local community came along side us. We want to thank Pinkabella Cupcakes for the mini cupcakes that provided for each contestant. We also want to thank Jamba Juice of Redmond for providing smoothies for every hot shot!

Watch the video and see how much fun was being had. Thanks for being part of our patient family. We love having the chance to love and care for you, and of course to provide you with world class orthodontic treatment. As always, if you or someone you know is considering orthodontic treatment with braces or invisalign, please have them give us a call at Bruner Orthodontics in Redmond, or Duvall Orthodontics, in Duvall!!!

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At Bruner Orthodontics it’s easy to see that Dr. Bruner and Dr. Helgen and every member of our team want to make orthodontic treatment fun for our patients. We have all kinds of contests and events that are designed to encourage and motivate our patients. Some of our contests reward patients for doing the things they need to do to achieve great orthodontic results. What you might not see is that our contests (like our Mother’s Day Card Contest and Thanksgiving Contest) are also designed to encourage, motivate and coach our patients to grow as people, and to be thankful for all that they have. 

It was no surprise that when our doors opened for the final shoot out on April 23^rd, over 50 great patients returned to the office, each with plans to win. This year the prizes were Beats headphones – We gave away 5 sets of Studio Beats headphones!

This year’s event was a blast, we are so grateful for the turn out and patient’s who made the event fun. A huge thank you to our co-sponsors, Jamba Juice and Pinkabella Cupcakes, for providing yummy smoothies and delicious cupcakes. None of our patients left empty handed thanks to your generosity. This way every patient was a winner Truly this was a successful 2015 Hot Shot Shoot Out!

In addition to the Shoot Out – our patients were asked to post their picture from the event to our Facebook page. Each patient who posted a picture received one entry into our random drawing for another pair of Beats Headphones, if their picture received 10 or more “likes” they received an additional entry and for 50 or more likes they received an additional two entries! We randomly chose our winner yesterday afternoon and the pair of headphones went to patient Jack E.! Our runners up were Neha M., Lizzy S., and Amanda P.! Congratulations to our winners!

As always, if you or a friend are considering orthodontic treatment we would be honored to provide a free orthodontic consultation. Please give us a call at the office 425-883-3353 and schedule an appointment in Redmond or Duvall today!



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Dr. Helgen has had extensive training making her an expert in her specialty of orthodontics and dentofacial orthopedics. She provides comprehensive orthodontic care with braces and invisalign and loves treating patients of all ages.

Dr. Helgen was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest and graduated from Bellevue High School. An avid Husky fan since birth, she attended the University of Washington, where she received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology. She then decided to pursue her dental education on the East Coast, attending the prestigious University of Pennsylvania School of Dentistry, in Philadelphia. With a passion for orthodontics from an early age, Dr. Helgen was thrilled to be selected for specialty training at the University of Pennsylvania, where she earned her Certificate in Orthodontics.

Dr. Helgen has always enjoyed giving back to the community. During dental school, she planned several blood drives, health fairs, and multiple fundraisers for various charities. She also regularly provided dental screenings and oral health education for homeless women and children in the Philadelphia area throughout dental school and her orthodontic residency.

Dr. Helgen is passionate about orthodontics and is committed to providing the best care possible for her patients. She is a member of the American Association of Orthodontics, American Dental Association, Pacific Coast Society of Orthodontists, Washington State Dental Association, Washington State Society of Orthodontists, and the Seattle King County Dental Society. Dr. Helgen is actively involved in continuing education. Dr. Lindsey Helgen and Dr. Matthew Bruner work together to diagnose and treat all of their patients. In this way they have double the diagnosing expertise, more available chair time for their patients, and can provide outstanding care for all of their patients at every appointment.

When Dr. Helgen is not delivering smiles at Bruner Orthodontics or Duvall Orthodontics she enjoys traveling, skiing, running, and spending time with her fiance Steve and her family.

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Did you know that 1 in 4 kids in Washington State live in a household that struggles to put food on the table? Hunger problems in childhood can lead to significant health problems later in life. That is where we come in!

We want to make sure that we are doing what we can in hopes of providing these families and children with a better holiday season and better overall health!

We have a box located in our waiting room at both our Redmond and Duvall locations for you to contribute to whenever you would like!

HELP US HELP OTHERS!

Here is a list of suggested food items:

– Oatmeal

– Whole Grain Pastas

– Brown Rice

– Tomato Products

– Canned Veggies & Canned Fruit

– Beef Stew/Chili

– Baby Formual

– Canned Milk

– Infant Cereal

– Jars of Baby Food

– Baby Diapers

If you or anyone is interested in a complimentary consultation with Dr. Bruner, call our office at 425.883.3353.

We have also opened up a new location in the Duvall area!

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