Partners in Education Update

Wow - we can't believe it is already March!  Where has the school year gone?  There are only 3 more months of the 2011-2012 academic school year left.  With that being said, we wanted to inform everyone on the progress of our Partners in Education program.



Dr. Ferguson, Superintendent Tom Shelton
and Dr. Tipton

 Earlier in the year, both Dr. Ferguson and Dr. Tipton have had the pleasure to meet with Tom Shelton, the Superintendent of Fayette County Public Schools. Dr. Tipton also had a meeting with the Superintendent of Jessamine County Public Schools, Lu Young while Dr. Ferguson met with Lana Fryman, the Superintendent of Bourbon County Public Schools.   During their time spent talking with each of the superintendents, the doctors were able to discuss the goals of our Partners in Education program.

Our goal of this program is to help off-set some of the costs the schools need to pay for classroom supplies.  We are able to provide this monetary funding through our patients.  Every new patient, whether a child or an adult, that starts full orthodontic treatment in our office will be able to choose a school of their choice and we will donate $100.00 to that school in their honor.

We started this program last academic year (2010-2011) and we were able to donate $26,400.00!!  This year we are right on track to donating the same amount or more.  So far since August 2011 - February 2012 we have donated $16,300.00 to local area schools.  Please see the pie chart below to see which counties have received funding.

Superintendent Lu Young and
Dr. Tipton

We have had a lot of feedback from various schools letting us know how these donations have helped their school.  For example, Mercer County has used the donations to help fund the local food pantry, which helps to supply food for their Backpack program.  Jessie Clark Middle school uses the funding for their Youth Service program, which buys classroom supplies for the children that do not have the resources to buy their own supplies.  Bryan Station High School has used their funding to help under privileged children be able to attend school field trips.  Finally, LTMS has started a mentoring program to help keep kids motivated with school and their studies. Even though, these are just a couple of stories, there are many more uses for these funds and we are very grateful to be part of helping our local schools.

Again, we are so excited about our Partners in Education program and to be able to continue the program for another year. We feel it is truly making an impact in our schools along with helping to enrich the children through their education. However, we cannot do this by ourselves.  We ask that you help us to spread the word about the Partners in Education program.  You can do this by informing your child's school or PTA about the program, talk to your neighbors, friends, family members and/or colleagues because this program can only be successful with your help!

February is National Dental Health Month!

National Children's Dental Health Month began as a one-day event in Cleveland, Ohio on Feb. 3, 1941. The American Dental Association held the first national observance of Children’s Dental Health Day on Feb. 8, 1949. This single day observance became a week-long event in 1955, and in 1981 the program was extended to a month-long celebration known today as National Children’s Dental Health Month.


We believe at Bluegrass Orthodontics that children's teeth are meant to last a lifetime and a healthy smile is very important to a child's self esteem. With proper brushing and flossing along with eating a balanced diet and visiting the dentist two times a year children can achieve this goal!

We have linked a video about Dudley the Dinosaur visiting the dentisit for your children to watch.  Enjoy and remember to SMILE!

http://youtu.be/TkSQCyl_rfY

Bluegrass Orthodontics Now Has QR Codes!

Bluegrass Orthodontics officially has 2 new QR codes. Not sure what a QR code is? No worries! QR stands for Quick Response. These QR codes are scanned by your phone and the information is relayed to you. Once the QR code has been scanned it may give you details about the business or in our case send you to our website and or Facebook fan page! Go ahead try it your self below:

Facebook - QR Code

Website - QR Code

Damon Forum Meeting

Dr. Ferguson was in Phoenix, Az. over the past weekend participating in the 12th Annual Damon Forum. A 3-day continuing education seminar about the braces we use in our office - The Damon System. While he was there learning about this innovative brace system, he was also fortunate enough to hear their new spokesperson, "Soul Surfer" Bethany Hamilton speak about her experience with the Damon Brace System. Click on the link below to see why Bethany Hamilton is Stoked about Damon Braces and so are we!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O7L1I7dUBU&feature=share



Partners in Education Update

We are so excited to announce we have donated a total of $10,700.00 to local area schools from September 2011- December 2011 through our Partners in Education Program.  As you know, our Partners in Education program is a cooperative program we established in August 2010 to provide local area schools with a monetary donation they can utilize within their school to help off set the cost of classroom supplies. 

When a child or an adult starts full orthodontic treatment in our office, we will donate $100.00 to a school of their choice.  Once a month we will deliver a check along with a letter stating the name of the patient(s) who selected that school to receive the donation in their honor.

We have had such a great response from teachers, principals, superintendents, parents, etc., that we decided to continue this program  for the 2011-2012 year.  Thus, this far Fayette County has received a total of $5,600.00,  Bourbon County has received $1,500.00, Jessamine County has received $600.00 and other surrounding counties have received $2,700.00! 

All of us at Bluegrass Orthodontics are excited to continue this program and be able to give back to our communities which have been so good to us!  We value and understand the importance of education for the future success of the children within our community and this is just one way we are able to help.

Merry Christmas!

From all of us at Bluegrass Orthodontics, we'd like to wish our families, friends, neighbors, and co-workers a very Merry Christmas.  We'd also like to extend a special holiday message to our "ortho family" of patients, and colleagues because without you we would not be who we are today.  We are eternally grateful for all of your support through out this past year and we look forward to continue to provide your family with the best orthodontic care possible.  We are very blessed to have such wonderful and caring people in our lives, that words can not express the gratitude we feel towards you all.

May each and every one of you have a very Merry Christmas and all the best in the New Year.

Orthodontic Emergencies

It is almost the bewitching hour!  Time to dress up, pretend we are someone or something else, eat all those special goodies and hopefully not break any orthodontic wires or brackets.  However, if in the instance you sneak one of those "no-no goodies", we have created some helpful hints to get you through the rest of the Halloween night. 


Broken Arch Wires:

• If an archwire is broken and it is NOT poking or causing discomfort, you can place a small piece of wax on the end and call our office in the morning to schedule an appointment.
• If an archwire is broken and it IS poking or causing discomfort, you can either put a piece of wax on it or you can clip it with a pair of nail clippers which have been disinfected with alcohol.  Again, please call our office in the morning to schedule an appointment.

Broken Brackets:

• If a bracket/brace has popped off your tooth and is still attached to the archwire, and it is NOT bothering you, please call our office in the morning and we will schedule an appointment to repair the broken bracket.
• If a bracket has popped off your tooth and is NOT attached to the archwire, please keep the bracket in a ziploc baggie and call our office in the morning to schedule a repair appointment.  If the archwire is poking, you may clip it with a pair of disinfected nail clippers or place a piece of wax over the pokey end.

Pokey Archwires:

• If an archwire is poking, you may either put a piece of wax over the end or clip it with a pair of disinfected nail clippers.  Please call our office the next morning to schedule a repair appointment.

Of course, these are just a couple of incidents that could occur. The best prevention of broken brackets or archwires is to follow our guidelines and stay away from the gooey, sticky, chewy or hard foods this Halloween.  However, with any emergency situation, if you can not temporarily fix the problem at home, or if you have any questions about a situation, please do not hesitate to call our office!

We hope you have a "SPOOKTACULAR" Halloween!