October is National Orthodontic Health Month!

Today marks the official start of National Orthodontic Health Month, and our friends at the American Association of Orthodontists have provided a helpful website that provides important information on protecting your braces, including tips for trick-or-treaters, braces-friendly Halloween recipes, facts about braces and treats you should avoid while wearing braces.

Don’t eat foods that are hard, sticky, crunchy or chewy. Avoid candy, gum, nuts, hard chips and popcorn. For foods that you would normally bite into with your front teeth, you should cut or break it into small pieces and chew on your back teeth. Eating these foods can cause the brackets to become loose or broken. Keep foreign objects out of your mouth such as pens, pencils, and fingernails because these can also cause breakage. If you have excessive breakage, it will prolong your treatment time. Dr. Lucas Stevens and our team want to work with you to get to that spectacular smile we are all looking for as soon as possible, so let’s do what we can to take care of your braces properly!

Please give us a call if you have any questions! Happy Friday and enjoy your weekend!

Back to school with Stevens Orthodontics

Now that many of the schools here in Tallahassee are back in session, Dr. Stevens and our staff would like to remind all of our patients about the importance of scheduling appointments in advance in August and early September. With school, clubs and sports to consider, we know that it can be challenging to find time to visit our office this fall. In order to accommodate all of our patients' busy schedules, it is important that you plan ahead for your appointments so that we are able to provide you with an appointment time that is convenient for you.

As always, please remember to give us advanced notice if you're unable to make your regularly-scheduled appointment. If we receive enough notice, we might be able to schedule another patient for that time. Feel free to give us a call at 850-385-2822 if you have any questions, or if you would like to schedule your fall appointment.

We look forward to seeing you all, and hope you had a wonderful summer!

Featured patient reviews for Dr. Stevens!

Ok, we've shared patient reviews for Stevens Orthodontics with you in the past, but we received the following two reviews recently, and both made us proud.

"The best aspect of going to my orthodontist is that it doesn't seem like I'm going to an orthodontist...it's almost like going into a Beach Boys amusement park, which is awesome...being an adult adolescent. I truly appreciate the relaxed atmosphere, and all the nurses are cute." ~ Nicholas O.

"Dr. Stevens is very nice and fun!!!!" ~ Lisa W.

If you have a testimonial about your experience at Stevens Orthodontics that you'd like to share, you may post them here or on our Facebook fan page!

The benefits of smiling, from Dr. Stevens

Great news to report this Monday! People with big, happy smiles may actually out-live those who don’t. That, according to a recent study conducted at Michigan’s Wayne State University.

Dr. Stevens knows that positive emotion has been linked to both physical and mental health, but researchers at the university did something interesting: they used information from the Baseball Register to look at close-up smiles of 230 players who began their baseball careers prior to 1950 by studying their smile intensity (wide smile, no smile or partial smile).

The researchers then took into account other factors associated with life longevity, such as body mass index, career length and, interestingly, college attendance. They found that players who weren't smiling died at the average age of 72.9 years. Players with partial smiles lived to be at least 75. Those with big, wide smiles, however, lived on average to be 79.9 years old!

Our take-away from the new study? Smile now, smile often and you might just live longer! Have you perfected your smile by visiting Stevens Orthodontics lately? If not, give us a call at 850-385-2822 and have a great week!

The importance of retainers, from Dr. Stevens

If you've recently completed treatment with Dr. Lucas Stevens, our professional team at Stevens Orthodontics would like to congratulate you! Now that your braces have been removed, Dr. Stevens will provide—or has provided you—with retainers. After braces are removed, teeth can shift out of position if they are not stabilized.

Retainers provide that stabilization. They are designed to hold teeth in their corrected, ideal positions until the bones and gums adapt to the treatment changes, Dr. Stevens says. Wearing retainers exactly as instructed is the best insurance that the treatment improvements last for a lifetime. If you have additional questions about retainers or your treatment here at Stevens Orthodontics, please give us a call at 850-385-2822. Our staff would love to hear from you!

Tell Stevens Orthodontics: What's on your mind?

You know the drill: each week, Dr. Stevens and our staff blog about important topics pertinent to orthodontic care and your well-being. This week, we thought we’d step back and ask: what’s on your mind? What would you like to know about the always-changing field of orthodontics? What would you like us to focus on our blog? Perhaps there’s something you’ve been wanting to ask Dr. Stevens for a while now? Let us know by posting here or on our Facebook fan page!

So… ask away and enjoy the rest of the week!