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Haunted house party? You’ve had your costume ready for months. Foggy, moonlit night ahead? Your favorite weather. Ghouls and witches and vampires? Bring ‘em on.

But broken brackets? Warped wires? Abandoned aligners? If these unnerving possibilities send a shiver down your spine, this is the spot for you.

Because while the eerily unexpected is half the fun of Halloween in Chicago, unexpected orthodontic problems are no fun at all. That’s why we’ve carved out time for a few reminders to help you avoid some common orthodontic concerns.

Beware These Bites

When you wear braces, eating the wrong foods can have scary consequences. Chewy foods can pull a bracket right off your tooth. Hard and crunchy foods break wires and brackets. Sticky foods pull on your braces and can be hard to brush away. Eek!

Luckily, you don’t need a crystal ball to choose your Halloween treats. Ghost these candies immediately:

• Chewy caramels, licorice, taffy, and fruit chews
• Hard and hard-shelled candies, jawbreakers, and lollipops (especially with gum centers)
• Crunchy candied apples, caramel popcorn, popcorn balls, peanut brittle, and nuts
• Sticky gummies, candy corn, and jellybeans

But it’s not all trick-or-treating gloom and doom! Try these braces-friendly Halloween bites instead:

• Peanut butter cups
• Mint patties
• Soft chocolate bars without nuts or caramel
• Soft cupcakes and cookies
• Pudding cups
• Ice cream—without nuts, caramel, or other crunchy, chewy additions
• Sugar-free gum (if it’s okay with Dr. Iwei Huang)

Aligner Alerts

When you wear clear aligners, following your orthodontist’s guidance will prevent avoidable aligner problems from coming back to haunt you:

• Always remove your aligners whenever you eat to protect them from warping, cracking, bending, and staining.
• If you go out, remember to bring your protective case. The night’s no fun if your aligners have *disappeared* at the end of the evening.
• Don’t let the time get away from you! Most aligners need to be worn 20-22 hours each day. And, while you won’t turn into a pumpkin if you party too long without your aligners, you could delay your orthodontic progress if you don’t get your scheduled hours in regularly.

Time Your Treats

We can’t wave a wand to vanish cavities, so prevention is key. When you enjoy holiday treats (or any desserts), it’s good idea to eat them in moderation and with a meal. This way, your teeth are exposed to sugars and acids over a limited period. And, as you eat, saliva production increases, which helps neutralize destructive acids and wash away food particles before they can harm your enamel.

Water Works Like Magic!

Water has many bewitching qualities, especially when you’re in orthodontic treatment.

• Healthy hydration supports healthy oral tissues and saliva production.
• Water contains no sugars or acids which can damage enamel.
• Drinking water is a great choice when you wear braces, because water helps wash food particles from brackets and wires when you can’t brush.
• Water is the only good beverage choice while you’re wearing your aligners. Sugary and acidic beverages which collect in your trays bathe your teeth in those sugars and acids. Some darker drinks can stain your aligners—and your teeth!

Vanishing Food Particles and Plaque

Halloween is meant to be extra. And when you’re in orthodontic treatment, brushing and flossing is extra important to make sticky, sugary food particles and plaque disappear.

• If you’re going out for the evening, bring a travel-size toothbrush, toothpaste, and a small mirror.
• If you wear braces, brush and floss after snacking.
• If you wear aligners, remove them before eating or drinking anything other than water. Brush and floss your teeth and clean your aligners before replacing them.
• If you won’t be able to brush right away, it’s a good idea to bring your own bottle of water and rinse after eating.

Proactive orthodontic care isn’t magic. Communication and effort are all it takes! Talk to your orthodontic team at Gold Coast Orthodontics about the best way to celebrate Halloween without conjuring up orthodontic problems. And when you’re out sharing your holiday spirit, don’t forget to treat your friends to your boo-tiful, healthy smile!

At Gold Coast Orthodontics, we have been creating beautiful smiles for years. Whether you or your family have visited Dr. Iwei Huang and our team for a single visit or have been loyal patients throughout the years, we would love to hear your thoughts about your experience! In fact, we encourage you to leave a few words for us below or on our Facebook page!

We look forward to reading your feedback!

We’re not talking about caring for major appliances here—the refrigerators, dishwashers, and washing machines which make our lives easier. We’re talking about some much smaller appliances which produce major personal results—the dental appliances which help create healthy, attractive smiles.

A dental appliance is simply any device which helps promote dental health. And while that definition is awfully broad, you still might be surprised at the many types of dental work which qualify! Today, we look at “fixed” appliances. These devices and restorations stay in the mouth, unlike removeable appliances like aligners and retainers. How do they work for us, and how do we give them the care they need to work most effectively?

Space Maintainers

If you’ve lost a baby tooth prematurely, your orthodontist or dentist might recommend a space maintainer. A space maintainer holds the space open for your adult tooth to arrive in its proper spot by preventing the surrounding teeth from shifting out of position. Space maintainers can protect tooth alignment and reduce the need for later orthodontic treatment.

Traditional Braces

Traditional braces make use of brackets, arch wires, bands, and ligatures in a wide variety of materials and styles to align teeth properly and help correct malocclusions. Braces normally stay in place for 18-24 months, with more time as needed for more complex malocclusions.

Functional Appliances

Functional appliances like the palatal expander and the Herbst® appliance are used to guide jaw development during the treatment of malocclusions, helping patients achieve their best smiles while the jaw and facial bones are still growing. Because these appliances stay in the mouth until this stage of treatment is complete, caring for them can present some day-to-day challenges.

Fillings and Crowns

It might seem odd, but fillings and crowns are also considered dental appliances because they protect tooth structure. It’s especially important to take care of your teeth while you’re in orthodontic treatment, because interrupting your treatment to repair a damaged filling or crown might delay your regular orthodontic schedule.

So many appliances, helping us protect and improve our dental health in so many ways! Here are some steps you can take to make sure these appliances perform at their best:

• Clean carefully—and more often

You might need to brush and floss after every meal and snack to prevent plaque buildup and to keep food particles from sticking to braces and functional appliances. Dr. Iwei Huang can recommend your optimal cleaning schedule.

• Explore new tools

Interproximal brushes, flosses designed for braces, and water flossers can make cleaning teeth and appliances easier and more effective. Talk to your orthodontic and dental teams to learn the best tools and techniques for your specific needs.

• Eat with your appliances in mind

Sticky, chewy, hard, and crunchy foods are not on the menu when you have a fixed appliance! Sticky and chewy foods like caramels can damage appliances and are difficult to clean from appliances and enamel. Hard foods require biting pressure which can damage appliances—and your fillings and teeth! Crunchy foods can leave irritating little particles stuck in and under appliances. Dr. Iwei Huang has all the details on choosing foods which are good for your teeth and your orthodontics.

• Stick to your orthodontic routine

Wearing appliances as recommended is the only way to make sure you finish your treatment on schedule. Keeping up with your appointments and adjustments keeps you on track and allows the team at Gold Coast Orthodontics to discover any problems with your appliances.

• Watch out for destructive habits

Habits which aren’t good for your teeth and gums are also not good for your appliances. Nail biting, chewing on pencils or other objects, using teeth as tools to open bags or bottle caps, crunching on ice, and other behaviors which can damage tooth enamel can also damage fillings, crowns, braces, and other appliances.

• Don’t ignore potential problems

Call your orthodontic team in Chicago at once if your appliance is causing you pain or shows any signs of damage. See your dentist if a filling or crown is uncomfortable, loose, or damaged.

It doesn’t take a lot of daily care and effort to make sure your appliances are working their best—and the reward is a future of beautiful, healthy smiles!

Your feedback is very important to us at Gold Coast Orthodontics. We always want to make sure that our practice is meeting its full potential, so whether you’ve visited Dr. Iwei Huang once or been a loyal patient throughout the years, we encourage you to share your thoughts about your experience with us!

You can do this easily by giving us a review on our Facebook page or writing down your comments below. If you feel more comfortable, you’re always welcome to give our Chicago office a call, too! We feel fortunate to have you all as patients and look forward to reading all your feedback!