🦷 Invisalign, permanent retainers + frenum attachments

Welcome to this week’s edition of Mondays with Mark. Here’s what’s new this week…

1. Permanent retainers 🦷

In my newest article, I discuss the benefits and drawbacks of permanent retainers, as well as what points to discuss with your dentist if this is something you’re considering.

2. Watch last week’s functional orthodontics Q&A❓

Functional orthodontist Dr. Ariana Ebrahimian took over the Instagram account last week to answer your ortho questions. Her airway-focused approach is the future of ortho, and I encourage both patients and practitioners to watch—you can watch her Q&A by going to @askthedentist on Instagram and clicking the highlight called “Ortho Q&A.”

3. On the podcast: The Frenum Attachment 🎙

On this newest episode of Ask the Dentist, I answer a question from a mom of a one-year-old about whether it is necessary to do surgery on a one-year-old due to the formation of their frenum attachment.

The frenum, in simple terms, is the web-like skin tag that connects the upper lip to the upper gum. In this episode, we bust a few myths about the frenum attachment and talk about when gaps in deciduous (baby) teeth are normal.

When you have a moment, please subscribe, rate, and review the podcast! I have loved reading each one of your reviews so far.

4. What do you wish you’d known before doing Invisalign? 😁

I posted this question to Instagram today, and the response has been overwhelming. I asked this question because I think most people don’t know what they’re getting into. There’s so much marketing messaging and YouTube videos etc. put out there by non-professionals, that I find myself having to debunk a lot of different myths with patients in the chair.

I’m not here to discourage Invisalign. It’s a wonderful invention and one of the greatest advances in dentistry during my career, and I’ve been an Invisalign provider for decades now and seen great results. (Yes, it’s plastic in your mouth, but not much we can do about that one!)

If you have questions about Invisalign, head to the comments of this post. Lots of great insight from people sharing their experiences.

Tomorrow night, I’ll be answering questions received via the question box in my Stories for another Instagram Q&A—see you there!

Thanks for reading and have a great week ahead.

P.S. A book I’m loving right now is Hunt, Gather, Parent which was released last week. No, it’s not oral health-related, but it IS paleo-related. I am fascinated by what we can learn from ancient cultures to ease some of the ills of modern life, especially now that my wife and I are fully vaccinated and spending a lot of time with our granddaughter again. I’m only 88 pages in so far and can’t put it down.