• On Time Contest Winner
• Cheers to a New School Year!
• Please Pardon Our Dust
• Worried About Bullying? Try Braces

The new school year is just days away, and we hope you’re squeezing in a few more days of summer fun before you hit the books once again on Aug. 19.

We’ve enjoyed hearing about your vacations, jobs, athletic camps, missions trips and other activities as you’ve come in for checkups throughout the summer. One thing is certain: our patients know how to make the most of their break from school!

We wish all of you a happy, challenging and successful 2015-16 school year.

The school year isn’t the only thing that is new around here. While you’re back at school, we’re hard at work creating a new look in our office.

We are expanding our office by adding 1,000 square feet of space, which will provide more seating in our reception area. Lots of other changes are in store as the renovation work continues through the fall on days when we aren’t seeing patients.

Thank you for referring your friends and family to us. Those referrals are the reason we need to expand! We’re doing this to better accommodate our patients and guests. Thank you also for your patience as we work to make our office an even more enjoyable place to visit.

A great deal of excitement accompanies the start of a new school year, but some trepidation comes along with it when your children fear being bullied at school.

For those who have fears of their children being bullied, take comfort in this: orthodontic treatment might remove the target from your child’s back at school.

Teeth are the most targeted physical feature to increase a child’s chance of being bullied, according to a study published in December in the American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics.

According to the study, the top four dental-oriented facial features targeted by bullies are:

• Gaps between the teeth
• Missing teeth
• Tooth shape or color
• Prominent upper front teeth

“We often talk about how your smile is the first physical feature many people notice, so it’s reasonable that a child’s teeth could make him or her an easy target for bullies,” says Dr. Razdolsky. “Luckily, this is a physical feature that can be improved.”