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If your pre-teen or teenager is home for the summer, it’s easy to provide braces-friendly lunch options. The school lunchroom, though, presents another challenge altogether. What menu selections are most compatible with braces? And what can you put in that lunch box or brown bag to provide a tempting, healthy lunch during school hours? Let’s look at some options!

From the Cafeteria

Encourage your student to stick with soft foods that don’t require biting into. Some good choices include:

• Soup, either creamy or with soft vegetables
• Salads without crunchy vegetables or croutons
• Soft, shredded chicken or beef
• Egg or tuna salad
• Tofu
• Pasta
• Meatloaf
• Macaroni and cheese
• Soft casseroles
• Steamed vegetables
• Mashed potatoes
• Soft breads or tortillas

Bringing a Lunch?

There are many great options for packing a lunch bag! Just remember to keep foods at the proper temperature, with insulated containers for hot foods and two cold sources, such as two frozen gel packs, for cold foods.

• Sandwiches with soft filling (no chunky peanut butter!) on soft bread. Thinly sliced, easy to chew cold cuts will work, but cold cuts like salami are too chewy. Cut the crusts off if necessary. Cutting sandwich wedges into smaller portions will also make them easier to eat.
• Hard boiled eggs
• Hummus and soft pita wedges
• String cheese and soft crackers
• Applesauce
• Yogurt
• Soft fruits such as berries or bananas
• Jell-O or other gelatin dessert cups
• Pudding cups

When to Say “No, Thank You”

If you have to bite into it, if it’s chewy, or if it’s crunchy, it’s best to choose something else! Here are some common culprits when it comes to broken brackets and wires:

• Caramel
• Hard candy
• Popcorn
• Whole carrots
• Whole apples
• Hard rolls
• Pizza
• Corn on the cob

And remember to send your child to school with a brush and floss to clean teeth and braces after lunch. Dental hygiene is very important now, because brackets and wires can both trap food particles and make brushing them away more difficult. This can lead to increased plaque, cavities, and staining around the area of the braces. If it’s impossible to brush, be sure to remind your student to rinse thoroughly with water after eating.

Lunch hour should be a time to relax, get together with friends, and recharge for the rest of the school day. Talk to us about the most (and least) braces-friendly foods and recipes. By learning what foods to avoid and adjusting some old favorites, your school-age child can continue to enjoy healthy, tasty lunches. Most important, visiting Dr. Negaar Sagafi at our Washington D.C. office for an emergency repair will not be on anyone’s list of afterschool activities!

Just because it’s cold out there doesn’t mean you’ll give up keeping fit and active! Winter is the season for some of our favorite team sporting activities, and when you’re donning your protective gear, don’t forget to protect your teeth as well.

• Basketball

This sport actually tallies one of the highest counts of dental injuries. Running, jumping, and diving for the ball on an unforgiving court can lead to tooth and jaw injuries.  And for every ten men on the floor, it seems like there at least 50 flailing elbows in the paint.

• Hockey

Notorious for the toll it takes on teeth, hockey is a game of sticks, ice, and whizzing pucks. And when your sport’s penalties include the terms hooking, slashing, and tripping, the more protection, the better.

• Skiing

When you are flying down the slopes, combining powdery snow and speed, mouth protection is a good idea. This also applies to snowboarding and other snow sports.

• Wrestling

Grappling and pinning in close quarters can lead to unintended injuries after accidental contact with the mat or your opponent.

Different uniforms, different equipment, and different playing fields, but all these sports have one thing in common—the easiest way to protect your teeth while playing them is with a mouth guard.

Mouthguards generally come in three forms:

• Over the counter, ready-made appliances. These are available in drugstores and sporting goods stores, but might not be a comfortable fit as they are pre-formed sizes.
• The “boil-and-bite” option is a mouthguard form placed in hot water. You then bite down to shape it to your mouth and teeth.
• Custom mouthguards can be fabricated just for you through our Washington D.C. office. These appliances are designed to fit your individual mouth and teeth, so provide a better fit and better protection. They are also usually more durable and more comfortable. If you wear braces, you definitely need a custom mouthguard to prevent an injury to your mouth or braces caused by an ill-fitting appliance.

Whether you play on a team or pursue individual athletic activities, keeping safe as you keep fit is your first priority. We would be happy to discuss your mouthguard options for any sport, any time of year.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) now has approved not one, but two, vaccines for COVID-19 and we could see final data on a few others later this winter. This news is good … very good … but I do want our patients to know that things still won’t be completely back to normal for some time. If you have questions about what’s coming next, or about the vaccine, I hope you’ll ask our team, or your family practitioner.

In the meantime, let’s going to try to answer a few common questions.

People Are Having Reactions To The Vaccine – Doesn’t That Indicate It’s Unsafe?

In short: no. In fact, if the reaction is a fever or aches and pains those actually are a sign that your body is processing the vaccine correctly. That discomfort means you’re building immunity. Truly adverse reactions to reactions to vaccines are rare. If your pain or fever hasn’t subsided after a day or two, give your doctor a call, but chances are, just like with the regular flu vaccine, you’ll feel better in no time.

Trying to explain how aches and pains mean a vaccine is working? Check out the August 14 episode of But Why? A Podcast for Curious Kids for an engaging, kid-appropriate discussion with your little ones.

When Will I Get The Vaccine?

That question is up to each state to answer. In Maryland, there will be three phases of delivery:

• Phase 1A: health care workers, long-term facility care staff, and first responders;
• Phase 1B: high-risk individuals, including those with underlying conditions, and adults who live in congregate settings (e.g., homeless shelters or long-term care homes);
• Phase 2: individuals who work in “essential industries”; and
• Phase 3: the general population.

Right now, Maryland is in phase 1A, which as WBAL-TV explained, includes hundreds of thousands of individuals.

According to WUSA-9, the District of Columbia’s plan is very similar to Maryland’s except that individuals at long-term care facilities are in the first group of recipients.

Will My Doctor Give Me The Vaccine? How About My Dentist Or Orthodontist?

Perhaps. Each state, each city, and each local health system will determine how, to whom, and where the vaccine will be administered. Because the goal is to get the vaccine as quickly as possible to as many people as possible, it is likely that you’ll see it being administered in places where you wouldn’t usually go for healthcare.

Businesses might be able to offer the vaccine onsite to employees, for example, or schools or even malls and convention centers could become vaccine sites. We certainly are looking into the possibility of offering our patients the vaccine when supplies are more plentiful. Stay tuned, but please also remember that the two current vaccines are not yet approved for use in individuals under the age of 16. Chances are mom and dad will be inoculated well before the kiddos.

How Long Does The Vaccine Provide Protection?

The short answer is: we do not know. We know the individuals who participated in the vaccine trials continue to be evaluated and, so far, it looks like the drugs are working even months after being administered, but it’s impossible to know how long that will last.

We’re watching this question closely, so feel free to discuss it during your next visit!

Can I Take Off My Mask Once I Have The Vaccine?

The short answer is: no. As noted above, because it will take a while for everyone to receive the vaccine, things still will not look “normal” for some time. And while we know that the vaccine does a very good job of protecting you from getting sick, we are not sure yet if it prevents you from spreading the virus.

Dr. Purvi Parikh, an immunologist with the Allergy and Asthma Network who was a co-investigator for the Pfizer vaccine trials, explained why to the data analysis website FiveThirtyEight. She said, “Theoretically, a vaccine should stop both the infection as well as the transmission and spread,” but noted, because the focus of these clinical trials was narrow, scientists only looked at whether the vaccines prevented illness and were safe, not into other questions like whether vaccinated people can still spread the virus.

We wear masks to protect our loved ones, our neighbors, our teachers, and, yes, our orthodontists and dentists. We’ll be asking you to wear masks in our office even if you have received the vaccine.

If you have other questions, please don’t hesitate to raise them during your next visit, or to give us a call. We’re here for you.

We’ve been celebrating the new year for a really, really long time. It goes way back, but it started formally in 1582, when Pope George XIII made January 1^st the official holiday for ushering in the new year. The idea was to yell, cheer, and blow horns to scare away all the evil spirits of the previous year with the hope that the new one would be filled with happiness and opportunity.

While scaring away evil spirits isn’t what’s on our mind these days, we still ring in the New Year by cheering and hollering with friends and family. It’s a time to set new goals, refocus on old ones, and look forward to all the surprises the coming year will bring.

Whether you’re saying hello to the New Year snuggled up at home on your couch in the Washington D.C. area or by gathering your friends for a social celebration, here are some tips to help ensure you welcome this new chapter with a smile.

Tips for a great New Year’s Eve celebration from Spring Valley Orthodontics

• Stay safe. This one’s vital, because nothing puts a damper on your party like an emergency trip to the hospital. Stay responsible and try to plan ahead, whether that means taking a taxi, staying with a friend, or recruiting a designated driver. Do what you have to do to keep yourself and everyone around you safe.
• Spend time with the people you love most. The way we see it, the whole point of the holiday season is to cherish your family and friends. Regardless of what you’re doing, make sure there’s something for everyone. It’s essential to do something the whole group will enjoy!
• Smile! Whether you get all dressed to go out or have a quiet gathering with family and friends, make sure you accessorize with a smile. There’s always something to smile about!

We can all agree that change can be scary sometimes, but ringing in the New Year is an observance we all welcome with open arms. We hope you’ll enjoy this transitional holiday in a fun, healthy, and safe way. You have endless possibilities ahead of you!

Have a fantastic New Year!