Century City orthodontist Archives

What You Should Know About Crooked Teeth

October 28, 2024November 27, 2013 by seo

Malocclusion is a technical term that describes crooked teeth, and is the reason why many patients undergo orthodontic treatment. If one or more of your teeth aren’t aligned perfectly, than you may already realized the effect that misaligned teeth can have on the appearance of your smile. However, image isn’t all that crooked teeth affect. Century City orthodontist, Dr. Alpan, warns that the orientation of your teeth also influences how well your mouth works and how effective your hygiene routine is.

How to Diagnose and Treat TMJ Disorder (TMD)

July 15, 2026November 22, 2013 by seo

Your temporomandibular joints, or TMJs, are the small joints that connect the mandible (lower jaw) to the temporal bones in your skull, located just in front of each ear. The two joints work together to move the lower jaw as you bite, chew, yawn, speak, and swallow. When these joints are exposed to excessive pressure, they can become damaged, leading to a wide range of pains and sometimes difficulty moving the jaw. The jaw dysfunction encompasses a wide range of aches and pains, and diagnosis may be difficult because of the diversity of TMJ disorder’s symptoms. Luckily, your Century City orthodontist, Dr. David Alpan, is highly-skilled and specially-trained to diagnosis and treat TMJ disorder, and has helped many patients find relief from the condition.

Do Braces Increase the Risk of Cavities?

July 15, 2026November 21, 2013 by seo

Person adjusting braces with rubber bands

Straightening crooked teeth can have a profoundly positive impact on your oral health, as well as your confidence. Unfortunately, while highly effective, wearing orthodontic braces also affects your daily routines, like eating and brushing your teeth. By making dental hygiene slightly more difficult, braces can increase a patient’s risk of developing dental issues that result from excessive dental plaque, including tooth decay (the disease that causes cavities). Luckily, however, cavities are still highly preventable even with metal brackets and wires attached to your teeth. To help keep our patients’ mouths and braces clean and clear of cavities, Los Angeles orthodontist, Dr. David Alpan, takes the time to educate each patient about proper oral hygiene, and provides special instruments designed to effectively clean around braces.

How Invisalign Works Without Braces

July 15, 2026November 15, 2013 by seo

As an orthodontist, Dr. David Alpan specializes in helping patients obtain straighter, more beautiful, and more functional smiles by correcting teeth misalignment. For many patients, mainly adults, wearing metal brackets and wires isn’t an ideal option, especially if the goal is to increase the patient’s confidence in his smile. To address the dual concerns of crooked teeth and the prospect of wearing braces, your Century City orthodontist often recommends Invisalign clear braces. The innovative orthodontic appliances can straighten your teeth with amazing results, and without the need for conspicuous metal components.

Why Do Children Need Braces?

July 15, 2026November 11, 2013 by seo

For many people, the thought of braces might immediately conjure images of children with metal brackets and wires on their teeth. The natural connotation between children and braces may, in part, be due to the fact that orthodontic treatment is often prescribed in a child’s early years. Problems with a child’s occlusion (the way teeth fit together) and bite balance can become exponentially worse as the jawbone and teeth continue to grow. With a wide variety of options and designs for children’s braces, Century City orthodontist, Dr. David Alpan, can help straighten your child’s teeth early, preventing potentially serious orthodontic issues that might require invasive procedures to correct as an adult.

Los Angeles CA Orthodontist Discusses Children and Braces

July 15, 2026October 11, 2013 by seo

The smile of a child is a treasure that parents cherish. However, you may have already noticed some signs of misalignment in that special smile. If so, the time may have come to consider orthodontic treatment. For a list of reasons why children and braces go together so well, read the following information provided by your Los Angeles CA orthodontist, Dr. David Alpan.

Century City Orthodontist’s Malocclusion Quiz

July 15, 2026October 4, 2013 by seo

Close-up of dental malocclusion condition

Other than the fact that crooked teeth can diminish a smile’s visual appeal, how much do you know about malocclusion? Many patients who seek orthodontic treatment to correct misaligned teeth are motivated by cosmetic reasons and wish to improve their confidence in their smiles. However, those who decide that crooked teeth don’t look so bad, and therefore ignore correcting them, do a great disservice to their long-term oral health. Your Century City orthodontist, Dr. David Alpan, presents important information about crooked teeth in the form of a fun and enlightening quiz.

What Do You Know About Crooked Teeth?

1.) What’s the most effective method for straightening crooked teeth?

a.) Braces c.) Dental bonding

b.) Porcelain veneers d.) Improved dental hygiene

Century City Orthodontist: Dental Health for Children

November 13, 2024September 20, 2013 by seo

Although children may take a few years to fully grasp the concept of oral hygiene, a parent’s job of ensuring a child’s good dental health can never begin too early. Until children can brush and floss their own teeth, parents are all that stand between their children’s smiles and the forces that lead to destructive dental diseases. Today, your Century City orthodontist, Dr. David Alpan, explains early dental health for children, and offers a few tips to successfully teach your children how to brush and floss their teeth.

The Early Years

You shouldn’t wait until your child’s teeth erupt from the gum line before worrying about cleaning their mouths. The truth is that children are born with their primary teeth already formed, or forming, in the jawbone. To keep your newborn or infant child’s mouth clean before teeth begin to erupt, Dr. Alpan suggests running a clean, warm, damp washcloth gently over the gums to clear them of oral bacteria and residual milk after each feeding and before bed.

Century City Orthodontist Corrects Smile Misalignment

July 15, 2026September 18, 2013 by seo

Recently, a study conducted by Wakefield Research revealed that over a third of Americans are unhappy with their smiles. Dental misalignment, including crooked and crowded teeth, hinders the appearance of our smiles. Fortunately, at Alpan Orthodontics, we can correct dental imperfections. In today’s blog, your Century City orthodontist, Dr. David Alpan, explains how our orthodontic procedures can transform your smile.

Century City Orthodontist Helps You Assess the Cost of Braces

July 15, 2026September 9, 2013 by seo

One of the most common questions concerning braces is how much the treatment will cost. As a dedicated orthodontist in Century City, Dr. David Alpan provides a variety of high quality affordable orthodontic treatments to all of our patients. Correcting your bite’s alignment (occlusion) is an ongoing process, and our mission is to help ensure that you receive the treatment you need while keeping your overall cost manageable.

Determining Immediate & Long-Term Costs

At Alpan Orthodontics, the first cost associated with orthodontic treatment is free. During your free orthodontic consultation, Dr. Alpan will thoroughly inspect your face and the alignment of your teeth and jaw, including your jaw’s joints.

Century City Orthodontist Discuss Prevention with Children’s Braces

July 15, 2026September 6, 2013 by seo

The purpose of orthodontic treatment is to address the misalignment of your teeth and bite, which can seriously inhibit your mouth’s proper function and, in severe cases, negatively affect the symmetry of your facial features. When occlusal problems are detected early, while your child’s oral structures are still growing, early orthodontic treatment may lessen or prevent the need for treatment at an older age. Malocclusion, or bite misalignment, can occur in various ways and for a number of different reasons, and your Century City orthodontist, Dr. David Alpan, is specially trained to diagnose and treat occlusal complications at any age. Today, we explain how early orthodontic issues can blossom into bigger trouble if not treated, and how children’s braces are designed to prevent that from happening.

The Importance of Symmetry

Prevention, early detection, and early treatment are dominant factors in all areas of good dental health. For instance, preventing tooth decay and gum disease can help you avoid the need to restore dental damage caused by the infections. Likewise, correcting a child’s incorrectly-growing bite at an early age can help place that child’s smile on the path to permanent proper alignment.

Century City Orthodontist: Easier Dental Hygiene with Clear Braces

November 13, 2024August 26, 2013 by seo

There are many considerations to straightening crooked teeth, and if you’re an older teen or an adult who requires orthodontic treatment, than many of those considerations are likely of a cosmetic nature. Crooked teeth can visibly mar your smile, but wearing metal braces to correct them may not add to your confidence within your personal and professional life. To address the aesthetic nature of malocclusion while maintaining the utmost discretion, your Century City orthodontist, Dr. David Alpan, may recommend Invisalign clear braces. By eschewing the traditional bracket-and-wire setup of conventional braces, clear braces are designed for image-conscious patients who may otherwise postpone or neglect a serious dental problem. However, discretion isn’t the only benefit to Invisalign treatment; as removable aligners, clear braces also make good dental hygiene easier to maintain.

A Focus on Convenience

Although they’re called clear braces, Invisalign’s aligners aren’t braces in the typical sense. More accurately, they’re a series of custom-designed aligners that guide your teeth along a doctor-prescribed path of movement to their desired positions.

What Do You Know About Crooked Teeth?

The Early Years

Determining Immediate & Long-Term Costs

The Importance of Symmetry

A Focus on Convenience

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