COVID-19 and Orthodontic Treatment

Coronavirus has altered the way we learn, communicate and receive healthcare.  These are uncharted waters in which we are swimming. During a time like this where extreme social distancing is being recommended and we are all cooped up in our homes and planning what our needs will be. We understand many of you may be wondering about your ongoing or planned orthodontic care. Braces set your teeth into a healthy position like the foundation of a house. We believe Orthodontics to be an important preventive measure for a life long healthy mouth. Braces seldom require urgency and so our office is following the recommendations of the American Association of Orthodontists and the American Dental Association in postponing non-urgent care. These mandates by public health authorities to postpone all non-emergent care to are in effort to support (1) social distancing recommendations, and (2) preserve critical medical personal protective equipment for the ongoing nationwide shortage, we want you to know a number of things:

• Although the offices are physically closed, we are still here for you, and can be contacted easily by phone or e-mail. We are often able to provide important information, recommendations, or even services via an virtual visits.
• For those in active treatment, your treatment is still active, and is progressing daily. Modern braces, wires, brackets, appliances, and aligners all have in common that they “work” continually and only require assessment at proper intervals depending on their use. This means that for the most part, you need not worry about your orthodontic course progressing as planned, it is still actively placing force to give you desired results.
• Some patients may have situations that may need closer monitoring, for example, if this closure goes on longer than we expect. In those cases we have developed a method for having you deliver pictures of your teeth, braces, aligners to us for our evaluation.

Should any of you have questions or concerns at this time, please view our instructions for doing a “Virtual Visit” at this link: https://youtu.be/z5BHbvS2HkQ