Enter the AAO Video Scholarship Contest!

We have some exciting news to share with all of our patients this Thursday. The American Association of Orthodontists, which Dr. Doleac is a member of, is offering a $2,500 academic scholarship to two lucky winners of their "How Orthodontics Changed My Life" video contest.

All patients at Magic Smiles 18 years of age or younger are eligible to enter, and entries are due by June 1st! You can learn more about the contest on the AAO's web site, but here are a few subjects to think about while making your video:

• What were you like before you had orthodontic treatment? How have you changed?
• How proud are you of your new smile?
• When did you notice changes in yourself? What kinds of changes have you noticed?
• What does your new smile mean to you?
• What would you say to others whose smiles make them self-conscious?

This is a great opportunity and we encourage you to enter. GOOD LUCK!

What is malocclusion? Dr. Doleac Explains

Malocclusion, or what we call “bad bite,” is the improper alignment of teeth and/or jaws. When your teeth and jaws are not properly aligned, it may impact your bite, the ability to properly care for your teeth, your gum tissue health and even your appearance.

Most people experience some degree of malocclusion, but it generally is not severe enough to require corrective measures. If your malocclusion is serious enough, however, treatment at Magic Smiles may be necessary to correct the issue.

We will tell you that untreated malocclusion can lead undesirable mouth problems, including tooth decay, gum disease, chipped and cracked teeth. The most common solution for malocclusion, of course, is orthodontic treatment. The actual course of treatment, including the length of time you will require braces, will be determined by severity of your malocclusion. The goal of your treatment is to move your teeth into the proper position and correct any misalignment in the jaw.

At Magic Smiles, we use the most advanced technology in the field in order to ensure that you receive the best possible results. If you have any questions about malocclusion, please give us a call and we’ll try to answer any questions you may have.

This March, what are you up to?

It’s almost springtime, and believe it or not, the sun is warming up and soon the smell of freshly-cut grass will be wafting from a baseball field nearby. Dr. Doleac and team thought this would be a good time to ask: What are your plans for March?

Are you ready for spring? Are you participating in school sports this year? Do you have exciting plans? We’d love to know them all!

You may share your stories or plans with our team here, on our Facebook fan page or by giving us a call!

P.S. While you’re on our Facebook page, become a fan of Magic Smiles!

When should you call Dr. Doleac?

Our friends at the American Association of Orthodontists (AAO) have put together a helpful list that outlines when you should call Magic Smiles. Here are some early warning signs indicating it’s time to check in with us:

1. Early or late loss of baby teeth
2. Difficulty of chewing or biting
3. Mouth breathing
4. Finger sucking or other oral habits
5. Crowding, misplaced or blocked-out teeth
6. Jaws that shift, make sounds, protrude or retrude
7. Speech difficulty
8. Biting the cheek or biting into the roof of the mouth
9. Protruding teeth
10. Teeth that meet in an abnormal way or don’t meet at all
11. Facial imbalance or asymmetry
12. Grinding or clenching of teeth


Do any of these warning signs fit you? If so, give us a call as soon as possible!
Hope this helps,

-Dr. Doleac

Orthodontic fun facts, from Dr. Doleac

The American Association of Orthodontists, or AAO, has come up with some fun facts about orthodontics that our team at Magic Smiles thought you might enjoy.

• There are nearly 4 million people in orthodontic treatment throughout the United States. Three out of four are younger than 18.

• The first mechanical treatment for correcting irregular teeth was suggested by Gaius Plinius Secundus (A.D 23-

• Of the 160,000 dentists in the United States and Canada, 8,000 are practicing orthodontists.

• The cement that attaches the braces to the teeth is now made with a special fluoride-releasing substance.

• Wires activated by body heat used in today's braces originally were developed by NASA for use in the space program.

• In addition to alleviating or preventing physical health problems, orthodontics can boost self-esteem as treatment aligns teeth, jaws and lips.

• Famous orthodontic patients include: Dr. Joyce Brothers, Hale Irwin, Cher, Diana Ross, Phyllis Diller, Chelsea Clinton, Whoopi Goldberg, Daisy Fuentes and Brandi.

Top Ten Tips for Keeping Your Braces Clean

Keeping your teeth clean is more important than ever when you have braces. Food bits have more spots than usual to hide in your mouth, so you must be diligent in order to avoid bad breath, swollen gums, discolored teeth and cavities. If you remove plaque regularly during treatment, you'll experience better results and shorter treatment time. Keep plaque at bay with these top ten tips:

One tooth at a time. When you brush, take time with each individual tooth – at least 10 seconds each – and pay careful attention to the spots where your teeth touch your braces.

It’s all about the angles. Brush the tops of your teeth and braces with your brush angled down toward where they meet. Brush the bottoms of your teeth and braces with your brush angled up.

The tooth, the whole tooth, nothing but the tooth. While the front surface of your teeth may seem like the most logical to clean, it’s equally important to clean the inner surface of your teeth (tongue side) as well as the chewing surface. And be sure to clean along your gum line – a key spot for plaque buildup.

Step 1: eat, step 2: clean. While you’re in treatment, it’s important to brush after every meal. Bits of food can easily get caught between braces and teeth, and these food bits interact with bacteria in your mouth to cause decay. The longer food is in contact with your teeth, the greater opportunity for plaque to form. If you are eating somewhere that you can’t brush, thoroughly rinse your mouth with water.

Like a Boy Scout, always be prepared. The easiest way to be sure you can brush after every meal is to get in the habit of taking a toothbrush, toothpaste and floss with you wherever you go. Designate a special container just for your teeth-cleaning tools and keep it in your purse, backpack, or laptop case.

Remove the moving parts. If you have elastic bands or headgear, remove these parts before you brush or floss.

Fluoride is your friend. Fluoride helps prevent cavities. Be sure to brush with fluoride toothpaste, and rinse with fluoride mouthwash.

Pointy brushes reach tiny places. Interproximal brushes (sometimes called proxa brushes or interdental brushes) are cone-shaped and come in very handy for reaching spots around your braces that standard brushes can’t.

Find the floss for you. Regular floss works for some patients, but others find it easier to work with a floss threader, which helps you get the floss into tight places. Other patients like an all-in-one product called Superfloss, which comes with a stiff end for easy threading, a spongy section for cleaning wide spaces, and regular floss for narrow spaces.

Make time for the pros. It’s your job to take care of the everyday cleaning. But make sure to visit your dentist regularly while in treatment, to get the deep, thorough cleaning that only a professional can provide.

Hope this helps!

--Dr. Doleac

Great Patient Reviews for Dr. Doleac & His Orthodontic Team

We love seeing all of the kind words that our patients have said about Dr. Doleac and the Magic Smiles team. We wanted to share a few with you. If you'd like to write a review for Dr. Doleac, head to our Google local listing and share your comments!

What I like best about my orthodontist is his great attitude that he has every time I go to my appointment. He explains out everything related to my treatment and answers all questions I have. The service is EXCELLENT and they are all nice people and very professional. I am very happy about that!!! ~ Fidel F.

VERY Friendly, bright, cheery and kid oriented! ~ Byron M.

He is very nice and seems very patient. Also the girls that help are nice too and my son really liked all of them on his first visit. Made him very comfortable and not nervous at all. Thanks! ~ Austin Z.

I enjoy that he always seems very aware of what is going on during my appointment. I never feel left out of the loop and he always keeps things moving at a quick pace during the appointment and also keeps things moving quickly in the long run with my braces. ~ Brad B.

What are you thankful for?

Thanksgiving is almost here, and we at Magic Smiles are thankful for all our wonderful patients and friends that make our each day extraordinary!

Since the holiday season is about to begin, what are you thankful for?

Share a response in the comments here, or head over to our Facebook Fan Page to join the conversation!

Have a wonderful weekend,

--Dr. Doleac & Team

Don't forget to share your Halloween photos on our Facebook and MySpace pages!

Remember, for your contest entries this week, post a photo of you in your Halloween costume or the jack-o-lantern you carved! Just as a reminder, each week marks another chance to write on our Facebook or MySpace walls for another entry to win the $100 prize. We will draw the winner on December 15th!

Head over to Facebook or Myspace today to enter into the contest!

GOOD LUCK!

From the Magic Smiles Team

Dr. Doleac and Magic Smiles host retirement party for two long-time employees

Magic Smiles celebrated Halloween with a retirement party for two long time employees, Carolyn Kautz and Sue O'Neal (both over 30 years). Debbie Wakeling, a 15 year employee is also retiring, but she was sick and unable to attend. Carolyn has been our bookkeeper and the mother hen of the Portland office. Carolyn will now have more time for her many crafts, especially her painting. Sue O'Neal has been our hygienist and myofunctional therapist for many years before going part time several years ago. She has been tracing our cephs for the past few years.


Shan and Ann prepared Retirement Books with photos of office events of the past 30 years--the books brought back many memories--primarily of how young we used to be. Former employee Barb Hansen and husband Tony stopped by with their twins.

For more of our photos from the party and other cool stuff, please visit our Facebook fan page.

Bottled Water May Be Behind Tooth Troubles

We at Magic Smiles want you to know that as more families turn to bottled water and away from the tap, they may be missing out on one important ingredient that most brands of bottled water fail to include: fluoride!

As of 2005, bottled water is second only to soft drinks as the most popular drink in the United States, beating out milk, juice, and – more significantly – tap water. Between 2001 and 2006, the amount of bottled water sold in the U.S. rose an average of 10% per year. And many dental health specialists point to bottled water’s increased popularity as the culprit behind rising rates of cavities.

Because fluoride helps strengthen teeth, it is an important component of maintaining good oral health. The benefits of fluoride were noticed in the early part of the twentieth century, when researchers found communities with low levels of tooth decay. It turned out that these towns had measurable levels (around 1 part per million) of fluoride in their drinking water.

Beginning in the 1940s, communities have fluoridated their water supplies, and dentists have seen a significant decline in cavities ever since. The American Dental Association endorses both community water fluoridation and the use of fluoride-containing products as a safe means of preventing tooth decay. Between tap water and toothpaste, most of us get sufficient amounts of fluoride.

But if your family avoids fluoridated tap water in favor of ever-more-popular bottled water, you could be missing out on the levels of fluoride necessary to make a difference in your oral health.

If bottled water is your water of choice, check the label to make sure that your brand contains fluoride. As of a 2006 decision, the FDA allows bottled water containing .6 to 1.0 milligrams per liter of fluoride to carry a label stating that fluoridated water may reduce the risk of dental cavities or tooth decay. The ADA has backed this decision.

Of course, simply drinking fluoridated water is not a magic ticket to perfect teeth. To keep your choppers in tip-top shape, it’s also important to brush and floss daily and avoid too many sugary sweets.

Win $100 from Magic Smiles

We have just started our fall patient contest! Here are all the details:

Become our Fan on Facebook or Friend on MySpace then write on our wall (Facebook) or add a comment (MySpace). For each comment (favorable, of course, and limited to 1/week on each site) you will be entered into the drawing for $100.

There are approximately 10 weeks before Dec 15th, so if you made 1 entry on each site every week, you would have 20 entries in the drawing. Head over to the Magic Smiles Fan Page or Dr. Doleac's MySpace profile. If you are not registered on those sites, you will need to do that before you can add a comment.

Thanks and GOOD LUCK!

--Dr. Doleac & the Magic Smiles Team