broken braces

Don’t Be Naughty With Your Braces During The Holidays

December 21st, 2018

BE NICE TO YOUR braces this holiday season. Be sure to eat holiday treats that are soft and braces-friendly.

Hard candies are on the braces naughty list. These include candy canes and all hard candies. Gum and chewy, sticky candy are also on the braces naughty list and could lead to an orthodontic emergency.

The Braces Nice List

Soft candies, including chocolates, and easy to chew candies like Almond Joys or Mounds bars, are much safer to eat.

Be sure Holiday gift box chocolates are soft. Stay away from the sticky chewy ones. To ensure braces safety when eating mystery chocolates, you may need to cut your gift box candy in half to see what lies inside before you take a bite.

Small, soft M&Ms that can be chewed with the back teeth are on the nice list. Most desserts, including ice cream, cakes, and brownies and can be easily enjoyed with braces. If you really want to impress Santa with your braces niceness, eat the Holiday Jello! This will put you at the top of the braces nice list!

Keep Taking Care Of Those Teeth!

Be sure to brush and floss your teeth regularly and frequently during the holiday season. This will put you on the nice list not only with Santa but also with your orthodontist. We wish you a joyful holiday season without any orthodontic emergencies.

Merry Christmas and happy New Year from all of us at Gorczyca Orthodontics.

Gorczyca Orthodontics, 5201 Deer Valley Road, Suite 1A, Antioch, California (925)-757-9000.

Top image used under CC0 Public Domain license. Image cropped and modified from original.
The content on this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.

Nail Biting Can Be Hard On Your Teeth AND Your Braces

July 13th, 2018

WHETHER IT’S DONE consciously or unconsciously, nail biting habits affect people of all ages. On the surface, nail biting may not seem like a big deal. However, fairly severe consequences can result in both oral and overall health problems. And as if that wasn’t enough, it can also cause complications during your orthodontic treatment.

Nail Biting’s Effects On Your Teeth

  1. Nail biting can crack, chip and wear down teeth. Your front teeth are lot different from your back teeth in terms of functionality. They aren’t designed for gnawing or chewing.
  2. Nail biting can shift tooth alignment and damage existing orthodontic treatment.
  3. Nail biting risks gum tissue damage. Bitten nail pieces can easily tear into your gum tissue increasing the risk of gum disease and eventual tooth loss.
  4. Nail biting can be expensive. The Academy of General Dentistry estimates that nail biters incur an additional $4,000 in future dental repairs.
  5. Nail biting can break your braces. The hard nail on your finger when pressed up against your orthodontic bracket with biting force could cause your orthodontic bracket to break and come loose.

Did you know that teenagers are actually the most common nail biters? While 25 percent of young adults bite their nails and only 5 percent of older adults bite their nails, as many as 45 percent of teenagers have this habit. And for teenagers with braces, it can cause problems.

Nail Biting’s Effects On Your Health

Think about the most germ-concentrated areas of your body — your mouth and hands. You can imagine what happens when those two areas are in constant contact. And when there are even tiny, tiny breaks in the skin, germs get a free hall pass to your bloodstream. Yuck.

Tips For Quitting 

Maybe you’ve always wanted to quit, but it hasn’t worked yet. Here are a few tips:

  • Keep your nails looking nice. It will help motivate you to leave them alone.
  • Enlist friends. Sometimes it helps to have someone remind you when you’re biting.
  • Notice your trigger(s).  Anxious? Bored? Learn to deal with these emotions in other ways.
  • Carry a nail file and clippers. If you crack a nail or snag it, you can make repairs without biting.
  • Treat your nails. There are many awful tasting products — designed for this purpose — that you can put on your nails to really deter you.

Do You Have Any Helpful Quitting Ideas To Add?

Do you struggle with biting your nails? Does someone you love bite his or her nails? We hope the content of this post has helped. Let us know if there is anything else our team can do to help, or if you have other questions. If you have any tips for quitting, share them below or connect with us on our Facebook page. We’re always excited to hear from you!

Your smile and health are our inspiration.

Gorczyca Orthodontics, Antioch, California.
925-757-9000 www.clubbraces.com

Valentines, Conversation Hearts, And Braces

February 13th, 2018


AS VALENTINE’S DAY approaches, we are once again surrounded by one of America’s most popular candies, the conversation heart.

A Legacy Of Candy Messages

First developed by a Boston apothecary in 1847, Oliver Chase joined the lozenge craze spreading through Boston. Innovating from mortar and pestle, kneading, rolling and cutting to make lozenges, Chase invented the first candy machine. Inspired by the Valentine card market in Boston, Oliver’s brother Daniel started putting food dye letters on to the lozenges in 1866. It is legend that the Chase brothers’ wafers with love greetings were sent to soldiers during the Civil War.

In 1902 the heart shape lozenge machine was invented and the CRAZY4U conversation heart phenomenon was born. Daniel Chase went on to found the New England Confectionery Company (NECCO) which today makes 100,000 pounds of the hearts year round, each day.

Through the years, conversation heart sayings have reflected how culture has changed. Sayings range from KISS ME, HUG ME, BE MINE, and CUTIE PIE to popular sayings likek TE AMO and GIRL POWER. For the digital age, we even have TEXT ME and TWEET ME messages.

The Wrong Treat For Braces

Conversation hearts might make great Valentines, but they are too hard to eat with braces. Orthodontist Dr. Ann Marie Gorcyzca says “Conversation hearts are not your braces’ BFF!”

At Gorczyca Orthodontics, we would LOVE YOU to show your braces some SWEET LOVE by not eating conversation hearts. This will make Valentine's Day for YOU+ME the BEST DAY ever. Give out your conservation hearts and be TOO CUTE, TOO COOL, and find TRUE LOVE.

Love From Gorczyca Orthodontics

We XOXO braces at Gorczyca Orthodontics in Antioch, California and want your Valentine’s Day to be extra special. We hope your conversation heart Valentine’s Day dreams come true. Find us at www.clubbraces.com or call us at 925-757-9000 for a free orthodontic exam.

YOU ROCK for not eating conversation hearts with braces. Spread the conversation heart love and see you soon at Gorczyca Orthodontics.

Your SMILE is our inspiration.

Orthodontic Treatment And Groundhog Day

February 1st, 2018


WE ALL KNOW the popular Bill Murray movie “Groundhog Day,” where Phil Connors wakes up in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania and every day is February 2nd. He’s stuck reliving Groundhog Day and there is nothing he can do about it!

Don’t get stuck in perpetual orthodontic treatment by not wearing your rubber bands! Breaking your orthodontic brackets over and over again makes each appointment a repair! This slows your orthodontic progress and makes you relive Braces Day over and over again!

We’ll Take Care Of Those Teeth

At Gorczyca Orthodontics, we are committed to moving your orthodontic treatment forward as quickly as possible. We closely monitor orthodontic elastic wear, motivate you, and get you in for emergency rebond appointments for broken brackets on quick notice.

We want your orthodontic treatment to proceed quickly so that your braces will be off and you can spend your time eating whatever you would like and enjoying fun activities. We closely monitor your orthodontic progress and keep you informed so that you can move forward each day towards the end of your orthodontic treatment and receive the smile of your dreams as quickly as possible.

Call us at Gorczyca Orthodontics 925-757-9000 if you have questions about the length or stages of orthodontic treatment. Find us at www.clubbraces.com or visit us at 5201 Deer Valley Road, Suite 1A in Antioch for a free orthodontic evaluation.

We’ll make sure that your orthodontic treatment does not feel like Groundhog Day!

See you soon at Gorczyca Orthodontics.

Top image by Flickr user Anthony Quintano used under Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 4.0 license. Image cropped and modified from original.

Braces, Apples, and Caramel

September 15th, 2017

APPLE SEASON IS HERE and every orthodontist knows what you're thinking: can I eat apples slices with caramel with my braces?

The answer is: YES!

Take Care When Eating Apples With Braces

A favorite treat in September and all year round, apples can be eaten with braces as long as they are cut into thin slices. Remember to slice your apples with braces and enjoy this healthy treat.

What you need to AVOID with braces is biting directly into an UNSLICED APPLE with braces. Biting directly into an unsliced apple with your front teeth while wearing braces is very likely to break off your orthodontic brackets. This will create an orthodontic emergency which will need attention and rework for you and your orthodontic office.

The most dangerous apple of all for braces is the candied apple. Biting into a candied apple with braces is orthodontic bracket suicide! DON'T DO IT! Even slicing a candied apple is not good. Stay away from candied apples with braces.

You're The Apple Of Our Eye!

Thank you from all of us at Gorczyca Orthodontics for taking care of your braces during apple season. If you have questions about braces, call us at (925) 757-9000 for a free orthodonic exam. Visit us at 5201 Deer Valley Road in Antioch, California right behind Deer Valley High School.

A sliced apple a day keeps the orthodontist away! Remember to slice your apples with braces.

Top image by Flickr user rumpleteaser used under Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 4.0 license. Image cropped and modified from original.
The content on this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.
More Topics
diplomate american board of orthodontics Edward H. Angle Society of Orthodontists advanced education in orthdontics
member american association of orthodontists seattle study club american dental association california dental association
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