Your first visit to our office will take place in the Consult Room (above) and last approximately 20 minutes. The purpose will be to meet us and have Dr. Mehan do a clinical orthodontic evaluation. As part of this evaluation, Dr. Mehan has a Consult form (.PDF Here) that you can printout and fill-in the information at home where all your information is readily available. Then bring this completed form to your first visit. Also at this visit, you should get a feel for our office atmosphere and a "sense" of whether you would like to have us care for you. We are confident that you will.

1. What type of treatment do I need?
2. What type of braces can work for me?
3. How long will it take to treat me?
4. Are there any other options besides braces?
5. What will it cost?
6. Can the office work with my insurance, or provide financing for the cost?

The first visit is your introduction to our office. It is an "information" visit. Feel free to ask the doctor any questions about your care or that of your child's. Do not feel that you have to decide immediately. You can discuss this at home and when comfortable, call us. If you do decide that you wish to proceed with orthodontic care in our office, we can make those arrangements.

If you wish to proceed, your next appointment will involve taking "Records." All patients who will be treated with braces or some type of orthodontic appliance will have records taken for diagnostic purposes. Following records you will have your braces placed. This would be your "Banding" appointment. If you are having an orthodontic appliance placed, it would most likely be done within one week after your records.

RECORDS

The Records appointment will take approximately 45 minutes. During this appointment, one of the orthodontic assistants will take the following:

1. Panorex x-ray- shows all your teeth on one film.
2. Cephalometric x-ray- shows the side view of your skull and how your upper and lower jaws relate.
3. Bitewing x-rays-These are taken to look for any cavities in-between your teeth.
4. Digital Photographs-of your teeth and your face.
5. Upper, lower and anterior impressions of your teeth. These are poured up in plaster to obtain models of your teeth.

Dr. Mehan uses the information from your records appointment and notes from your consultation visit to determine the best treatment plan for you.

BANDING

The Banding appointment involves the actual placement of your braces (and/or appliances). This appointment can take approximately 2 hours and usually will directly follow the Records appointment. During this appointment (in most cases) the following procedures are performed:

** Bands may be fitted and cemented to specific molar teeth if necessary.

Teeth to receive direct bonded "SL" brackets are prepared as shown in the following pictures:

1. A lip retractor is placed to keep the cheeks, lips and tongue from the surfaces of the teeth. All teeth need to be kept dry at this point.
2. A blue etching gel is then placed on the surfaces of the teeth where the bracket will be placed.
3. The gel is rinsed off after 1 minute and the teeth are air dried.
4. A clear sealant resin is applied to the surfaces of the teeth.
5. A curing light is placed over the sealed teeth to set the resin.
6. The orthodontic assistant places cement on the bracket and Dr. Mehan places the bracket on the tooth.
7. The curing light is used to set the cement. (All the orthodontic cements we use are light cured.)

Bite Blocks - are small mounds of blue or tooth colored cement. They are usually placed on the back bottom teeth or on the back side of your top front teeth (turbos). Bite blocks are used to open a bite temporarily while teeth are moving. This way, the top teeth aren’t biting off the bottom braces. It gives your teeth a place to rest. Dr. Mehan will let you know if these are needed for you.

Bite Blocks (or Turbos)

The time from when the retractor is place to the time the last bracket is place is approximately 20 minutes. Once the cement is cured, the retractor is removed and the patient can rinse out and check out their new braces!

• Dr. Mehan will clean any excess cement from your braces.
• Your archwires will now be placed and you may choose the colors you like.
• The rest of your banding appointment will focus on information in your orthodontic packet.
• The orthodontic assistant will review the orthodontic packet with parent.
• Dr. Mehan will review x-rays and treatment plan with parent (or patient).

Following your banding appointment, Dr. Mehan will let you know when your next appointment will be. Most routine activation appointments will take 15 minutes. Any longer procedure, will be indicated when you make your next appointment so that you can plan ahead.

The office is open daily. Office hours are from 7:00am until 5:00pm for our activation appointments. (We reserve the hour from 5:00pm-6:00pm for our new patient consultations.) Our patients are seen by Dr. Mehan usually on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, but Dr. Mehan's schedule varies. Please feel free to check with our patient coordinators. Staff will be in the office on Thursday and Friday to take your calls as well as clinical staff available for emergencies should you need any assistance.

**Orthodontic bands are very rarely used with the "Self-Ligating" braces.