Our team at Wilson Orthodontics wants to know: Will you be wearing your green this Saturday? Whether Irish or not, millions of people around the world celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with toasts, parades and “the wearing of the green.” Here are some fun facts about St. Patty’s Day we know you will enjoy:

• St. Patrick’s Day is observed on March 17th because that is the feast day of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. It is also a worldwide celebration of Irish culture and history.
• The name “lephrechaun” has several origins. It could be from the Irish Gaelic word “leipreachan,” which means “a kind of aqueous sprite.” Or, it could be from “leath bhrogan,” which simply means “shoemaker.”
• Some American towns have Irish names. They include: Shamrock Lakes, Indiana; Shamrock, Oklahoma; Shamrock, Texas; Dublin, California and Dublin, Ohio and Mount Gay-Shamrock, West Virginia
• Despite what you may have heard, St. Patrick never banished snakes from Ireland. In fact, no snakes exist or ever existed in Ireland. Ireland is surrounded by icy ocean waters, much too cold to allow snakes to migrate from Britain or anywhere else.
• St. Patrick’s Day was first celebrated in America in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1737. Approximately 34 million Americans claim Irish ancestry. That’s almost nine times the population of Ireland, which has 4.1 million people.

If you have something special planned for St. Patrick’s Day, let us know by posting a comment on our Facebook page.

At Wilson Orthodontics, we know maintaining a healthy diet over the holiday season can prove a difficult task. After all, who can resist the tasty treats of Christmas? With grandma and everybody else offering you candy, chocolate logs or Christmas pudding, you just can’t say “I’ll pass” each time. But trouble lurks: every time you chow down on that chocolate or candy, the bacteria in your mouth have a feast on the sugar—at your expense. The sugar turns into acid, and the acid eats away at the enamel on your teeth and between your braces. Then, you start getting cavities.

Instead, try fudgy cocoa bites, marvelous molasses cookies, wonderful waffles or other braces-friendly recipes, courtesy of the American Association of Orthodontics, or AAO, and “The Braces Cookbook” by Pamela Waterman.

If you must indulge in chocolaty goodness this Christmas or holiday season, remember to brush your teeth after eating sugary treats. Hope this helps! Give us a call if you have any questions!

Happy Holidays!

iBracesHelp

By The Dental Specialists

iBracesHelp is a free but informative smartphone App for people wearing braces or those who are interested in getting orthodontic braces in the near future. The application is full of useful information, pictures and videos on caring for your braces and what to do if you have problems with your braces.

This cool Orthodontic App is Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad and requires iOS 3.2 or later. It was recently updated in July 2011 so be sure you get the latest version.

There is also a orthodontic support website where you can find:

• helpful information about caring for braces
• how to take care of minor emergencies
• what to do for discomfort
• as well as links to other helpful websites

Be the first of your friends to Download the BracesHelp iPhone App from the iTunes store or visit the 24/7 virtual support site here for emergency orthodontic information. You can also get emergency information from our website to. Take a look here! For more information on caring for your braces, click here.

The iBracesHelp App gets a 4.5 out of 5 stars from reviewers in iTunes.

If you like this free App share it with your friends on Facebook and Twitter and let us know what you though of it in the comments field below.

With summer in full swing, some of us at Wilson Orthodontics wanted to remind all our patients about the importance of reading. Sure it’s easy to keep putting off reading this time of year, but reading during the summer is a vital step in brain development and warding off the dreaded “summer slide.” Plus, it's fun!

Today, we thought we’d ask: What's on YOUR summer reading list? What are some of your all-time favorites? Out of ideas for great summer reads? Ask us for suggestions, and our staff (and Dr. Wilson would be happy to provide a few suggestions. You may also ask a local librarian for some ideas or check out these summer reading ideas that we came across today, courtesy of Barnes & Noble.

Happy reading! Be sure to share with us your summer picks or your all-time favorites on our Facebook page!

At Wilson Orthodontics we give our patients and future patients a reason to smile all year round. We have monthly contests giving our patients as well as future patients that visit our Web page or Facebook page a chance to win awesome prizes. We currently have an opportunity to win an iPad in our December drawing and we're giving away 4, lower level, 40 yard line tickets to a Falcons game with parking pass, a football and jersey signed by Matt Ryan.

We also have a quarterly drawing for our Referring Doctors staff and have given away a One hour message, a huge grocery themed gift basket with a voice recording grocery list machine, a wonderful Spa themed gift basket, and coming up a great GPS system. In December we surprise our Referring Doctors and their Staff with awesome gifts, this year will be extra special. We have a monthly mailer with Discount coupons for future patients.

We also do events throughout the year and several Fall Festivals at area schools. Where we have a booth we set up with a ton of information, great little give aways and special discounts to all who come by during the event. We always have an awesome turn out.

All of these things we do have created a wonderful Buzz about our office. The positive feed back is non-stop. As we all know word of mouth is an Awesome tool and with every thing we do the words are "Go see Dr.Wilson and his staff you'll be a great hands their the Best!!"

~ Pam

We love to keep our patients smiling. Patients love coming to our office because we are very cheerful, friendly and have lots of fun along the way! We pride ourselves in offering a very relaxed, fun atmosphere. For example, our Georgia Bulldog game room has several different video games patients can play while waiting for their appointment.

We also want to ensure our patients feel comfortable while they are in the chair being seen for their appointment. We enjoy talking with them about their hobbies and interests. Also, we have PSP games at each chair that they can play while they are waiting on Dr. Wilson if they want to. We have a large TV in the clinic that is always on for them to watch if they don't want to play the games. There are also TV's out in the lobby for the parents to watch while their children are in for their exam.

We have contests for our patients as well! Our currently contest is all about the Atlanta Falcons. When the patient answers a set of questions about the team, we place them into our drawing. We will be drawing our winner later on this month. If the answers are all correct , the winner will receive 4 Falcon VS Packers lower level 40 yard line tickets with a parking pass, a NFL football signed by Matt Ryan and Coach Smith, AND a Matt Ryan signed #2 Falcons Jersey! WOW!

These are just a few of the reasons why our patients love our office and staff!!

From Shannon Hicks, Chairside Assistant

Halloween is only a week away, and we hope you are getting excited about donning your costume and heading out trick-or-treating once again. While no Halloween celebration is complete without a little candy, its important to stay away from any braces-unfriendly varieties- damaging your braces can delay your orthodontic treatment!

For all that extra candy that you'll inevitably find yourself with, why not earn a little cash in the process? We are pleased to be offering our annual candy buy back program at our Gainesville and Hoschton offices on November 1st and 2nd, respectively, and open to all children in the area. We will be accepting all types of candy including chocolate as long as it is wrapped! Your Halloween candy will be bought for 2 tooth tokens per pound (maximum of 10 pounds per person). 10 tooth tokens (or 5 pounds of candy) will let you spin our “Wheel of Fun” for gift certificates!

All that pesky unwanted yumminess will be sent to our troops in harm’s way to put a smile on their faces! To create an even bigger smile, write a letter of thanks and bring it with your candy to tell our military heroes how much you appreciate them. Your note could mean the world to a lonely soldier far make from home and we’ll sure they get it and your candy!

We thank you ahead of time for helping us make a difference for our troops. For more information on our Candy Buy Back program and information about our office, give us a call!

Be sure to RSVP to our event on Facebook, and stay tuned on our official Facebook page for more news and events!

Summer vacation is nearly over for our teachers and school age patients. If you have not been to see us since the end of June, then you are in for a “big surprise”!

We have started on the second phase of remodeling our Gainesville office. The temporary wall of our waiting area has been a big hit with all of our patients. It has been turned into a huge chalkboard and everyone has been able to write their name on it. This is the one time we have encouraged everyone to “write on the wall”!

We are also excited to tell everyone what is in store for them once it has been completed. Besides the new media café, fireplace, water wall and day spa, our UGA Room will still be here too! So stop on by and see whats new from your friends at Wilson Orthodontics!

Though school may be out, summer is a great time for kids to catch up on their reading. Reading is a great way to keep minds strong and healthy all summer long, but choosing what to read can sometimes be overwhelming! Our very own Betty Lopez, chairside assistant here Wilson Orthodontics,  had a few tips to share on finding that perfect summer read!

According to the YALSA (young adult library services association) here are some of the top ten books for young adults: Demon's Lexicon,The Orange Houses,The Great Wide Sea,and The Reformed Vampire Support Group. If you are interested in reading the best of the best, check award winning book lists, or just simply browse the shelves at a local bookstore, get a cup of coffee and read a few pages from books that grab your attention. For parents of patients at Wilson Orthodontics, here are some of my favorite books when I was growing up that your kids might enjoy too: Where The Wild Things Are, The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Corduroy. If you are interested in reading programs they are some in our Local Libraries such as the Blackshear Library and the Gainesville Library. Always keep an open mind when looking for a book, and never judge a book by it's cover because you might just be missing out on your new favorite!

Happy Reading!

--Betty Lopez, Chairside Assistant