Oral health is a lifelong journey demanding daily brushing, flossing, and dental care. Straighter teeth equal easier teeth to care for, and believe it or not, these straightening treatments aren’t just for kids. Orthodontic care can even be a full-fledged family affair; just ask the Zadels!
An area mother, son, and daughter all needed help straightening out their smiles, and they all needed targeted, individualized orthodontic care that specifically worked for their smiles. After relocating from Vegas to VA, Sonja Zadel realized right away that “when we got here, we knew that we would be needing an orthodontist.”
The family began to notice a number of bite issues crop up and start biting into their quality of life. Fortunately, the Zadel family didn’t have to look far to seek the best help they could get. After asking around, Sonja was quickly able to find the best orthodontic care for herself, her teenage daughter Anna, and her son Jay.
Led by an American Board of Orthodontics-certified doctor, the caring, compassionate professionals among the Swihart Orthodontics family were happy to help out another family in need, and they were happy to hear what the Zadel family had to say about their experience.
“It Just Makes Me Wanna Smile All The Time”
Like many adolescent orthodontic patients, Anna Zadel struggled with some insecurities between the gap in her smile. “I’ve had a little gap in between my two front teeth since I was really little, and now it’s gone.”
Prior to wearing braces, Anna dealt with a fair bit of self consciousness and judgment surrounding her two gap teeth, even from friends. Far too often, kids, tweens, and teens face ostracization and bullying for simply wearing braces.
One 2021 Journal of Orofacial Orthopedics study sampling young orthodontic patients in Germany found that nearly 1 in 4 (or 23.5%) reported dealing with bullying. But over the course of a year, the Swihart Orthodontics team were able to seamlessly get Anna’s smile straightened out in no time!
The process of getting used to wearing and caring for her braces was relatively easy, efficient, and problem free for Anna. “The main thing with having to care for your braces was the fear of breaking your bracket. As long as I was conscious of that (bracket maintenance), it wasn’t that bad, and actually pretty easy.”
Although Anna dealt with the misfortune of breaking a bracket in the beginning, the Swihart team was very quick to set up an emergency braces repair appointment. Since completing treatment, Anna feels happier about her smile than ever before!
“So now that my braces are off, I love it because it just makes me wanna smile all the time!”
“I Feel Like I’ll Be Able To Show My Happiness More”
Jay Zadel enjoys a fun, active life swimming, playing video games, and socializing with friends. But for a long time, the gaps in Jay’s bite really bit into his own quality of life. “My bottom jaw doesn’t really come above my bottom lip.”
Jay dealt with spacing issues in his bite, and a number of the common health issues associated with bite misalignment. He needed braces to straighten out both the alignment of his teeth, as well as the alignment of his jaw.
Jay’s journey to smile success is still an active work in progress, but he’s already feeling high hopes that Swihart’s smile experts are guiding him in the right direction!
“I’ll feel good. I feel like I’ll be able to show my happiness more to friends and family.”
Can You Get Braces As An Adult? Can You Get Invisalign At Any Age?
Like her two children, Sonja previously needed orthodontics when she was younger. She had worn braces twice growing up, “back-to-back”, but jaw pain and tooth crowding issues began to creep back up on her smile later in life. These misalignment issues compelled her to seek out premier clear aligner care, and, wouldn’t you know it, the third time’s been nothing but a charm!
“I’m very happy that I did it. I was a little self-conscious of my smile, as an adult… (but) already, I can see that the straightening is making a difference.” Sonja told the Swihart team that she “has to be very intentional about when to have coffee” since beginning her aligner treatment, but aside from that, has reported no other challenges in her clear aligner care!
Adult braces and Invisalign wearers are slightly less common, but surprisingly more common than people may realize. Sonja is one of over 1.5 million patients who’ve sought orthodontic care as an adult – according to the American Association of Orthodontists, roughly one in four orthodontic patients are over the age of 21.
In addition, one Cochrane Library review estimated that only 10% of all orthodontic cases retain satisfactory alignment after 20 years. If that’s not enough hard evidence that oral health care is a lifelong affair, we don’t know what is!
Luckily, Sonja came away extremely satisfied with both her own adult orthodontic care, as well as the exemplary standard of individualized care her kids received. She gave Dr. Swihart’s smile specialists nothing but the utmost glowing endorsement, further elaborating that “I would absolutely recommend Swihart Orthodontics.”
“They have been so kind and nice to us, so welcoming, their offices are amazing, they’re clean, and they’re so accommodating with their schedule… it’s the whole package, we love it!”
We hope you’ll love it too. If you’re looking for the best orthodontist service in Gloucester, VA, then we hope the Swihart family will be able to make you smile as much as they made the Zadel family smile!
Board-Certified Family Orthodontist Care In Newport News and Gloucester, VA
Whether you or your little ones need a straightened out smile, Dr. Corrie Swihart’s elite team of smile specialists have you covered, with many premier tooth treatment options for all ages, including:
- Interceptive Orthodontic Treatment
- Invisible Clear Aligner Braces
- Traditional Metal Braces
- Surgical Orthodontic Intervention
Call Swihart Orthodontics today to book your first appointment, and to find out how Dr. Swihart’s individualized care could potentially get the whole family smiling!
