Dr. Jeff Answers Your Retainer Questions!

Throughout my career as an orthodontist, I have heard countless questions about retainers. After wearing braces for a few years, my patients tend to have a good deal of questions about their new retainers, and with good reason, too. They have invested time and money in the endeavor of obtaining a straight, amazing smile; they want to make sure they do the right thing.

Many of the questions I receive about retainers revolve around the duration of the retainers. “How long do I need to wear these?” and “Do I have to wear these?” are typical questions I receive.

Well, I am here to answer all of your questions! In fact, I have a video just for you that might explain a few things concerning retainers. Go ahead and check it out below for all of your answers including how long you need to wear braces and much more!

If I haven’t answered a burning question you have been dying to ask or if you want more information, please feel free to give us a call at (618) 288-0600 in Glen Carbon or (618) 622-3377 in Swansea. You can also visit us online at www.amazingsmiles.com for more information or to make an appointment!

The Mastroianni Team - Storming Las Vegas to Better Serve You!

When you think of Las Vegas, do you tend to think of bright lights and casinos? Well, we at Mastroianni Orthodontics think of just one thing when the words “Las Vegas” come to mind – furthering our education to better serve you!

Recently, six people from Mastroianni Orthodontics attended topFest 2013, which was held from January 31 to February 2 at the Green Valley Ranch in Las Vegas. The courses that we participated in offered something for everyone in our practice from hands-on workshops, lectures from guest speakers, doctor-only sessions, roundtable discussions, and much more.

Here are the courses we as a team attended during the 3-day conference and a brief synopsis about what they are and how they will allow us to better serve you!

*Clinic Know-How: We learned in this course about treatment notes and treatment planning, lists, and reports, which should all help us in our daily activities and help us become more effective and efficient on the job.

*Letters Workshop: We created more detailed letters in this conference. We all found out how to use placeholders, add images, and use other faucets in tops. We also learned how to customize statements and receipts and how to add additional information that you, our patient, might request.

*Insurance and E-Claims: In this course, we learned what information we will need to obtain from patients, policyholders, and insurance companies in order to file insurance claims.

*Clinical Training = Clinical Excellence: Lack of training can set a new employee up to fail. In this course, we learned how to develop new employees and retain high quality of employees and, of course, how to help them succeed through training.

*Managing Your Claims and Statements List: Here we gained a better understanding of e-filing insurance claims!

*Contracts Workshop: This course showed us how to create a contract with discounts, single insurance, dual insurance, and splitting initial fees.

*Blending Clinical and Front Desk: We learned how to make things operate more smoothly with the flow of patients, including knowing what list we need to generate for information that will be needed for the day.

*Check and Balances End-of-the-Day Duties: In this course, we learned how to create elastic set ups, remove teeth, change brackets in order to help assist our patients while they are in the chair, which will help patients be even more compliant.

*Mac Course: Yes, we learned about technology, too! Here we worked with different tools and applications on the Mac. This will be used to help our day flow more smoothly and be more efficient at our job.

*Procedures and Schedule Templates Workshop – Increasing Your Daily Production: This course showed us the ins and outs of creating new procedures and groups and placing them on the template where we need them. We also learned about doctor time and the best way to plan out Dr. Jeff’s schedule.

*Financial Arranging Strategies to Maintain the House Advantage: We learned how to measure the relationship between production and financial arranging to making policy decisions, examine alternative arrangements to offer our patients, which helps us become more flexible. We also learned the advantages and disadvantages of soft credit checks!

*Understanding Clinical Reports – The Key to Clinical Excellence: Here we were shown different ways of handling clinical reports to better serve our patients and use our time wisely and efficiently.

*The Schedule is the Driving Force of the Practice: Here we learned different ways for evaluating, updating, and facilitating an efficient and effective orthodontic schedule!

*Patients Are Watching! Instrument Reprocessing and Sterilization: In this course, we learned basic compliance with CDC guidelines and how to implement changes into the practice. This course made us aware that the patients and parents observe every move we make, and it will help us improve our patients’ awareness and assure them that every step is in place to protect their health.

*Photography Workshop: Finally, in this workshop, we were shown the different methods on cropping our photos that we take of new and existing patients to make them even more beautiful.

Attending these courses is just another way that we at Mastroianni Orthodontics are innovative and invest in our staff to better serve you, our loyal patients, with utmost care and the most leading technology. If you are interested in scheduling an appointment or have any questions, feel free to call us at (618) 288-0600 in Glen Carbon or (618) 622-3377 in Swansea. You can also see all that we can do for you when you visit us online at www.amazingsmiles.com.

Feast on Thanksgiving? We Say YES!

Can you believe that Thanksgiving is just about here? Well, it is, and we have so much to be thankful for, especially for our loved ones, friends, and, of course, our dental health!

Want another thing to be thankful for? Recent research has shown that the typical, bountiful meals that you make for Thanksgiving (if planned correctly) are not only delicious but also healthy for your body, teeth, and your gums, too!

Our bodies need many different essential vitamins and minerals to stay strong and healthy. Well, so do your teeth and gums! Guess what? Many of those essential vitamins and minerals can be found in many of the foods in the Thanksgiving meal that you prepare!

See below which foods are the best for you and why!

Turkey – The highlight and main event of any Thanksgiving meal, turkey is high in phosphorous, which is healthy for developing teeth. The high amount of phosphorous also helps rebuild and remineralize your teeth and the bones in your jaw! That’s just one more excuse to gobble all the turkey you want this Thanksgiving!

Sweet Potatoes – Are you a sweet potato fan? Have you been told over and over that sweet potatoes are bad for you? Well, you’re in luck! Recent research is showing that sweet potatoes are much healthier and nutritious than what was once thought, even more so than regular white potatoes! Sweet potatoes are also loaded with nutrients and lots of vitamins, including vitamins A, C, and B6, so load ‘em up on your plate!

Green and Winter Vegetables – Vegetables are important for a well-balanced diet as it is, but green vegetables and winter vegetables are even more essential for your gums! They are packed with Vitamin A and Vitamin C, both of which are essential for gum health and also for the repair of gum diseases like gingivitis and even periodontitis!

Cranberries – Rejoice, cranberry lovers! You can eat cranberries without any shame or remorse! These fruits contain flavonoids, which can prevent bacteria from sticking to your teeth and forming plaque! Remember, bacteria are the ones responsible for tooth decay and gum infections, so be sure to chow down on some sweet cranberries!

Pumpkin Pie – Yes, we said it. Pumpkin pie is actually a good source of Vitamin C and calcium, which is essential for gum health and developing teeth and bone maintenance. Now, we’re not saying that you can go and eat whole pumpkin pies, but you most certainly can indulge in a piece or two!

Remember, wellness for your whole body, including your smile, starts with prevention and good nutrition. All of us here at Mastroianni Orthodontics wish you an enjoyable, nutritious, and stress-free Thanksgiving and holiday season!

And if you want to come in for an appointment, be sure to call us in Glen Carbon at (618) 288-0600 or in Swansea at (618) 622-3377 or visit us online at www.amazingsmiles.com!

iTero Digital Impression System - Our Office Just Got a Whole Lot More Futuristic!

If you’ve ever had to have impressions of your teeth taken, you know how much fun it is (or isn’t) to have those trays filled with putty pressed up against your teeth. Up to this point, taking impressions the old-fashioned way with the putty was necessary to orthodontics. Most orthodontists would mix up the material, put it in special horseshoe-shaped trays, and then insert it into the patient’s mouth for several minutes. Anyone who has done it knows that it’s a messy procedure and in some cases it can cause a gag reflex. It’s certainly not the most fun thing to do when going to the orthodontist, but I’m very glad to tell you that at my office in Glen Carbon, that that experience is no more!

Instead of using the traditional putty method, we now use the new iTero Digital Impression System, which scans patients’ teeth and lets us work with a 3D digital model. This system is available at our Glen Carbon office. The whole process takes somewhere between 8 and 15 minutes and gives us a perfect 3D representation of the patient’s teeth that we can interact with on the computer. iTero uses a combination of lasers and optical scanning software in a process called parallel confocal imaging. What it means for our patients is that the messy material and gag reflex are a total thing of the past!

The other added benefit of having 3D scans in this way is that patients can directly see the progress that they are making with their teeth alignments. This will help them better understand what is going on in with their teeth, and it will help us to better explain how we are helping them.

Also, since the entire process is digital, the amount of time it takes us to get working models of our patients’ teeth is much shorter and far less cumbersome than it used to be.

Instead of sending off the impressions of your teeth to Invisalign and waiting 2 to 3 weeks for the results, we now can email the scan of your teeth directly to the company and can get a speedier result. This then allows us to give you an amazing smile even more quickly and accurately!

In the end, this all means that we can have patients come into the office for their first visit and leave the office on their last visit with a great smile in a shorter time than we used to. I love seeing my patients as much as I can, but I also know that we’re all working toward giving them the awesome smiles that they are capable of as quickly as possible, and this is definitely one of the tools that will help us achieve that.

So what are you waiting for? If you aren’t happy with your smile the way it is, then we’re ready to help you get the confidence and the pleasure that comes with having straight teeth and a fantastic smile! Call us today at (618) 288-0600 and set up an appointment, or stop by our website at www.amazingsmiles.com. Also, don’t forget to friend us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter! I can’t wait to hear back from you!

See Why Mastroianni Orthodontics is Right For YOU!

Orthodontist.

Does this singular word strike fear into your heart? Are you sweating and biting your nails as you read this now?

Guess what? You don’t have to feel that way! In fact, the word “orthodontist” will wind up being your new favorite word once you come visit us here at Mastroianni Orthodontics!

At Mastroianni Orthodontics, we care about our patients and cater to their every need. Unlike the other guys, we go above and beyond to make your experience with us spectacular, enjoyable, and one-of-a-kind.

Your experience begins as soon as you set foot inside our office. Our office is big, bright, comfortable, and best of all – sparkling CLEAN! We have nice, comfortable seating once you arrive for your appointment with us as well. You’ll feel like you stepped into one of your friend’s house, waiting for them to serve you some cookies.

That reminds us – you know that horrible, unpleasant “office smell” that you experience every time you set foot in a doctor’s office? Well, you won’t smell that here! Every morning we take the time to bake fresh, gooey, delicious Otis Spunkmeyer cookies, just for you! That’s right – you can have your cookies and eat them, too, in our office in Glen Carbon!

While you wait, you can enjoy our Internet café and big screen television so you can keep up with the latest news. And guess what, kids? We have a video game room for you to play in while you wait to see Dr. Jeff (Oh, and Mom and Dad, if little Johnny is getting his teeth looked at, your other children are free to use the game room, too!)!

Speaking of waiting – you know how you typically arrive at an appointment only to wait and wait well past your appointed time? Good news – we, unlike many other medical professionals’ offices, run ON TIME. We find it unacceptable to make you wait past your appointed time. We make keeping our schedule on track one of our top focuses!

Oh, and remember the days when you had to sit in a cramped waiting room, filling out all of your patient information on an old clipboard? Those days are long gone here at Mastroianni Orthodontics! You can now fill out all your patient information ONLINE in the comfort of your own home! You’re also free to return to the form at any time if you need to take a call, find out your family health history, or simply go to bed because it’s late!

All in all, a practice isn’t great without an excellent team. Here at Mastroianni Orthodontics, we believe we have the best of the best. Our dedicated team will do anything to keep you happy and comfortable! Whether it’s a quick phone call or an hour-long visit, we want to make your experience with us pleasant and enjoyable. Dr. Jeff has a zany sense of humor and a caring demeanor, and you will feel right at home in his office. Our staff is also super friendly, and we all know your name and welcome you to our office as if you were family.

Are you ready to make that first step in orthodontic treatment? Want to see what we’re all about? Don’t delay! Pick up the phone and call us here at 1-618-288-0600 or visit us online at www.amazingsmiles.com to make an appointment today!

Remember - at Mastroianni Orthodontics, you are NEVER thought of as simply “an appointment!” Call us today!

Invisalign Teen at Mastroianni Orthodontics

Invisalign Teen has become a popular treatment here at Mastroianni Orthodontics because it provides an option for younger patients to have straight, healthy teeth, without anyone noticing! Unlike traditional braces, teens using the Invisalign Teen system can remove their aligners, allowing them to eat just about anything without worrying about damaging or breaking their braces. This also makes teeth easier to clean compared to traditional braces. There are many advantages to using this new system, and we would love to have an opportunity to discuss it further with you. As you probably know, our consultations are always complimentary and we would be able to assess your teen's eligibility for treatment with Invisalign Teen at that time.

Dr. Mastroianni is a Premier Provider of Invisalign, meaning that he is in the top 5% of orthodontists in the entire COUNTRY using the Invisalign and Invisalign Teen systems. Call us today at 618-288-0600 to set up your complimentary consultation with our office.

New Office Video at Mastroianni Orthodontics

We believe that there are two main reasons people choose to seek care at Mastroianni Orthodontics. The first being the great customer service that we offer. We strive to be on par with any great restaurant you’ve been to, a vacation you’ve taken, or any other memorable experience in your life. We want you to have a comfortable, enjoyable experience at our office. Our modern clinics in Glen Carbon and Swansea are fun and feature lots of high tech equipment.

The second reason is the level of clinical care that we deliver, and the excellent results we are able to achieve for our patients. Part of this is reached by the continuing education that both the doctor and the team participate in each year. For example, Dr. Mastroianni recently returned from the 2010 AAO Annual Session, one of the largest orthodontic events in the world, with the latest information, technology, and treatment techniques in the field of orthodontics. We ensure that we are current in all the latest technologies to help deliver superior care to our patients.

Patients at Mastroianni Orthodontics are treated like a members of our own families, and we strive to build strong relationships with each new patient at our office. We also consider involvement in our community as a critical part of Mastroianni Orthodontics. Each year, we donate several free orthodontic treatments to school auctions and fundraisers, and even sponsor local sports teams each year in many Metro East communities. You can learn more about our practice on our web site, or give us a call to schedule a complimentary consultation!