COVID-19 Update
Come See Us For Your Consultation! No Referral Necessary!
Dear Beach Braces Patients/Families,
On March 15, our regulatory college (Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario) and public health organizations advised that all non-essential and elective dental procedures,of which orthodontics is a part, be postponed indefinitely for the protection of the public. Please consider your scheduled appointment cancelled until we notify you otherwise. We will contact you with specific details of your rescheduled appointments once our regulatory college clears offices to reopen. At this time, only acute emergencies such as infections, bleeding and pain can be treated.
Delaying orthodontic visits is unlikely to cause significant harm, as long as you are watching your diet, maintaining excellent oral hygiene standards and following the instructions which are summarized below. These instructions are for those under treatment using fixed braces, removable braces, Invisalign, retainers, or in interceptive treatment with an expander:
- If you have an expander or other device that requires you to activate it, STOP activating/turning the expander or appliance until we resume normally scheduled visits.
- If you are in fixed braces or Invisalign and are using elastics, MOVE TO WEARING ELASTICS ONLY AT NIGHTTIME until we resume normally scheduled visits. Once you run out of elastics, stop wearing them until we can re-assess you.
- Minimize sweetened beverages or foods and AVOID hard foods.
- Follow the instructions that we provided on your last visit, such as the pattern of wear of elastics (though moving to night time only), brushing your teeth, using aligners, etc.
- If you have permanent springs from the upper back teeth to the lower front teeth, or a X-bow appliance with springs to correct overbite, please keep an eye on the relationship of your front teeth. If your lower front teeth start touching your upper front teeth when you bring your back teeth together in a relaxed way, please contact out office.
- For those who have finished their treatment and are wearing retainers, follow the instructions that were provided at your last visit regarding the wear-time of your retainers. If your bonded retainer breaks or becomes loose and you are less than 6 months out of treatment WEAR YOUR REMOVABLE RETAINER FULL TIME. If you have a broken bonded retainer and no removable retainer and are concerned about possible shifting of the teeth, consider purchasing a boil-and-bite mouthguard and wear it faithfully every night, until we have been cleared to see
- Some orthodontic emergencies can be dealt with by yourself. Please click here for emergency guidance from the Canadian Association of Orthodontists.
- If you have an emergency involving acute pain, swelling, infection or bleeding that requires our urgent intervention, please send us an email to emergency@beachbraces.ca along with the name of the patient, telephone number and ideally a picture. Hold your lips apart and ask someone to take a picture of the region with the problem. We cannot repair broken brackets, retainers or wires, or replace missing retainers at this time.
- In the meantime, our advice is to avoid or minimize emergency visits until the virus spread slows down.
For ongoing care, we can assure you that every patient will finish with the healthy smile that was expected when treatment started. We only ask for your understanding with this delay as we attempt to navigate this challenge for the health of our patients, our staff and the community.
Best wishes and stay healthy,
Dr. John Dask and the Beach Braces Team