Partners in Education Update

We are pleased to announce since we began this cooperative project in August 2010 we have donated a total $61,100.00 to local area schools!!  For the current school year, beginning August 1, 2012, we have donated $7,200.00!

In review, for every patient that starts full orthodontic treatment in our office we will donate $100 to a school of their choice to help out with classroom supplies.  We disperse the funds to the schools every month with a letter including the name of the patient(s) who chose that school to receive the donation.

Recently, the Lexington Herald Leader, The Hamburg Journal and also Business Lexington have written articles about our "Partners in Education" program. We have been fortunate to have the word spread about this exciting project. By informing our communities about our "Partners in Education" program, it allows us to continue supporting our surrounding schools with these much needed donations.

Below is an excel sheet with the school totals so far for this academic school year.

National Orthodontic Health Month

October is National Orthodontic Health Month! 

We want you to have a spooktacular Halloween, but remember to stay away from the treats that can cause problems with your braces.  Here is a little list of some good treats and some not-so-good treats.

Good Treats: Hershey chocolate bars, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, M&M's,  Sweetarts, Hershey Kisses, 3 Muskateer Bars, pretzels.

Bad Treats: Gum, Jawbreakers, Licorice, Popcorn balls, Snicker's, Skittles, Dots, Heath Bars, Caramel.

Remember, if you break a bracket or a wire, check our website at http://www.kyorthodocs.com/ for emergency information.  Also, please call our office in the morning to schedule an appointment to fix your braces.

Below are some "brace friendly" recipes for your enjoyment!  Have a very Happy and safe Halloween!!!

GOBLIN GOODIES   

Ingredients:
       1 small box rice cereal
       1 small box corn or wheat cereal
       1 small box rice puffs ceral
       3 cups pretzel sticks
       1 stick of margarine
       1 bag milk chocolate chips
       1 bag of white chocolate chips
       2 cups of milk

Directions:
       Line a cookie sheet or large baking pan with tin foil
       Preheat the oven to 375 degrees, putting margarine in the pan and the pan
       in the oven as the oven preheats so that the margarine will melt.
       Remove pan from oven and add pretzels, rice puffs and the corn and rice
       cereal-slowly stirring to coat with melted margarine.
       Once all the cereal and pretzels are in the pan, place pan uncovered in oven
       and bake for 20 mins.
       When the snack mix is finished baking, remove from oven and allow to
       cool. While cooling, in a small sauce pan, over low heat, melt milk
       chocolate chips with one cup of milk, adding milk slowly until melted. 
       Repeat for white chocolate chips.
       With a spoon, drizzle melted milk and white chocolate over the snack mix
        and allow to firm.  Once chocolate is more firm, toss and serve.

GRAVEYARD SHAKES

Ingredients:
       1 3/4 cup milk
       1 tablespoon chocolate syrup
       1 large scoop chocolate ice cream
       1 large scoop vanilla ice cream
       2 Oreo cookies, finely crushed
       1 soft ghost-shaped marshmallow

Directions:
       Combine milk, chocolate syrup and both
       scoops ice cream in a blender.
       Mix well and pour into clear glass.
       Sprinkle a layer of the finely crushed  cookies onto the top of the shake.
Then, set the ghost-shaped marshmallow in the shake to make it appear as
though it is rising out of the top.

 Visit the American Association of Orthodontists to learn more about National Orthodontic Health Month. : http://www.mylifemysmile.org/

Word is Getting Out!

The Hamburg Journal heard about our "Partners in Education" program. 

Click on the link below to be brought to the online edition and read the article about us on page 6.

Thanks to everyone who has helped spread the word about this program. We truly appreciate the support!


Hamburg Journal link: http://issuu.com/hamburgjournal/docs/sept2012?mode=window&backgroundColor=%23222222

We're in the Newspaper!

Did you know, the Lexington Herald Leader wrote an article about our Partners in Education program?  In case you missed it, here is the link: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/07/22/2267282/for-each-set-of-braces-central.html

Enjoy and thank you for your support in this great endeavor!

Partners in Education Update

Our Partners in Education program is still going strong!  For the 2011-2012 academic year we have donated $27,400.00 to date and we still have 3 more weeks before the 2012-2013 school year begins! 

How the program works is easy.  For every patient that starts full orthodontic (braces) treatment in our office we will donate $100 to a school to help with the cost of classroom supplies.  Patient's do not have to do anything except on the day that braces are placed, let us know the name of the school you'd like to help and we will do the rest!  The donations are delivered to the schools with a letter containing the name of the patient(s) who selected that school to receive the donation in their honor.  The pie chart below shows what counties have received funding thus far.

We truly believe that every child deserves a great education and this is a way we have found to be able to give back to the communities that have been so good to us.

Flat Ferguson & Tiny Tipton Are Back!

Your favorite "little" orthodontists are back for the summer!  Yes, Flat Ferguson and Tiny Tipton are here and ready to go on vacation with you!

The rules are simple:

-Pick up your Flat Ferguson or Tiny Tipton at any one of our four office locations.

-Take them with you on vacation.

-Take a picture of them.  You could be in the picture or you don't have to.

-Email the picture to us at kyortho@qx.net

We have 3 different categories that we are judging on, which are as follows...

-Furthest traveled

-Most places traveled

-Most unusual place traveled

 All participants will be entered into the contest, and one winner from each category will win a $50.00 gift card to Target.

Make sure to visit our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bluegrass-Orthodontics/122310402342 to see all the pictures of where Flat Ferguson and Tiny Tipton will be traveling this summer!

Dr. Julie Rambo

We have a new face around Bluegrass Orthodontics. We'd like to welcome Dr. Julie Rambo to our orthodontic family. Dr. Rambo will be covering for Dr. Ferguson or Dr. Tipton when they need to be out of the office attending continuing education seminars. This will allow us to keep our offices open and available for our patients needs.

Dr. Julie Rambo earned her dental degree from the University of Kentucky College of Dentistry and Master of Science in Orthodontics degree from Saint Louis University.

She is a member of the Kentucky Dental Association, the American Dental Association and the American Association of Orthodontics.

Dr. Rambo enjoys exercising, shopping, cooking and watching UK basketball.

We hope you will welcome Dr. Rambo and enjoy working with her as much as we have!



A BLUEGRASS ORTHODONTICS COMMUNITY PROJECT.

Did you know that as many as 12 million elementary school children are on the free or reduced meal programs at school?

In order to help these children and as the school year ends, we are asking patients to bring in their gently used or new backpacks to help with a local organization called

“Blessings in a Backpack”.

This program fills the backpacks with ready to eat food such as tuna, raisins, applesauce, granola bars, etc. and distributes them to local schools. The backpacks are then delivered to the qualifying children on a Friday with the intention of helping to feed them for the weekend.

Currently Blessings in a Backpack is feeding nearly 59,000 children in 390 schools in 35 states and in 3 countries!

Kentucky right now has 47 schools in the backpack program of which 4 schools are located in Lexington!

To learn more about Blessings in a Backpack you can visit them at

blessingsinabackpack.org

We will be accepting backpacks in each of our 4 office locations through

August 30th.

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!

October is National Orthodontic Health Month

Halloween is fast approaching and soon we will be answering our doors to little ghosts and goblins asking us for "Tricks or Treats."  We know everyone loves the treats, but for an orthodontic office, those treats can cause havoc on your braces.  Sticky, crunchy, hard or gooey candy are big culprits in breaking brackets and arch wires.  To prevent this, we have compiled a list of some orthodontic friendly treats.

• Soft, melt in your mouth chocolate, such as Hershey Bars
• Peanut Butter Cups
• Jello
• Plain M&M's (no peanut M&M's)
• Mounds or Almond Joy candy bars
• 3 Musketeers candy bars

Think before you decide to put something in your mouth if you are wearing braces.  Definitely stay away from bubblegum, tootsie rolls, licorice, Snickers candy bars, etc.  If it is sticky, gooey or crunchy it is not your friend! This theory also applies with regular treats if you are attending any "spooktacular" Halloween parties!
Below you will find some "brace" friendly Halloween recipes.  We hope you have a "ghoulishly" great Halloween!

Pumpkin Chocolate-Chip Softies

Recipe idea adapted from “The Braces Cookbook” by Pamela Waterman    

Makes 36 – 40 cookies

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 15-ounce can plain pumpkin puree
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons molasses
1 tablespoon milk
1 12-ounce bag chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In medium-sized mixing bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. In large mixing bowl, with a mixer or whisk, combine pumpkin, brown sugar, eggs, oil, molasses and milk. Add flour mixture slowly into pumpkin mixture until well combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

The dough is very soft. Drop by heaping tablespoons onto greased cookie sheets, 12 cookies to a pan. Bake for 25 minutes. Store in a covered container between sheets of waxed paper.

Yummy Mummy Spinach Dip

What You Need:

1 pkg. (16 oz.) frozen pizza dough, thawed

1 egg, beaten

2 sticks KRAFT POLLY-O STRING-UMS String Cheese

2 black olive slices

1 cup BREAKSTONE'S Reduced Fat or KNUDSEN Light Sour Cream

1/4 cup KRAFT Light Ranch Dressing

1 pkg. (10 oz.) frozen chopped spinach, thawed, well drained

1 green onion, sliced

1/2 cup finely chopped red peppers

1/4 cup KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese

1/4 tsp. ground black pepper

WHEAT THINS Original Crackers

Make It:
PAT dough into 12x6-inch oval on baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Indent dough, about 3 inches from one end of oval, for the mummy's head. Let rise in warm place 20 min. or until doubled in volume.

HEAT oven to 375ºF. Brush dough with egg. Bake 18 to 20 min. or until bread is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped lightly. Pull apart string cheese to make about 16 strips; arrange on bread for the mummy's wrappings. Bake 1 to 2 min. or just until cheese is melted; cool slightly. Press olive slices into bread for the mummy's eyes; cool completely.

MEANWHILE, mix sour cream and dressing in medium bowl until well blended. Stir in next 5 ingredients. Refrigerate 30 min. or until ready to serve.

USE sharp knife to remove bread from top of mummy's body; scoop out bread from center, leaving thin shell on bottom and side. (Reserve bread top. Discard removed bread or reserve for another use.) Fill bread with spinach dip just before serving; cover with top of bread. Serve with crackers. (Nutrition information is for dip and crackers only.)

Scary Skillet Shepherd's Pie

What You Need:
1 pkg. (16 oz.) frozen mixed vegetables

1 lb. ground beef
1 cup beef gravy
4 oz. (1/2 of 8-oz. pkg.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, cubed
1 cup milk, divided
1 cup water
2 cups instant potato flakes
1/4 cup KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese

Make It:

COOK vegetables as directed on package. Meanwhile, brown meat in large skillet; drain. Stir in gravy; simmer until heated through, stirring occasionally.

MICROWAVE cream cheese and 1/4 cup milk in medium microwaveable bowl on HIGH 30 sec.; beat with whisk until smooth. Gradually whisk in remaining milk and water. Microwave 2-1/2 min. or until hot, stirring after each minute. Stir in potato flakes and Parmesan until well blended. Spoon into resealable plastic bag; cut 1 corner from bottom of bag.

REMOVE 12 peas from mixed vegetables; stir remaining vegetables into meat mixture. Squeeze potato mixture into 6 mounds on meat mixture to resemble ghosts. Add 2 of the reserved peas to each for the eyes.


For more great orthodontic friendly recipes visit http://www.braces.org/NOHM/Orthodontic-Friendly-Recipes.cfm or http://www.braces.org/JustForKids/Recipes.cfm.

Bluegrass Orthodontics 1st Annual Food Drive

BLUEGRASS ORTHODONTICS

1ST  ANNUAL FOOD DRIVE

Help us give back to our community!

                              

             Earn 1 HORSEBUCK for every canned item brought in!

COLLECTION DATES: Sept. 1, 2011- Nov. 9, 2011

Boxes will be located in the reception rooms at every office.

Any un-opened canned or boxed items will be accepted.

Please no glass items.

Dr. Jennifer Sullivan

You may have noticed a new face around Bluegrass Orthodontics.  That new face belongs to Dr. Jennifer Sullivan DMD MS, who occasionally fills in for both Dr. Ferguson and Dr. Tipton when they are out of the office attending continuing education seminars. 

Dr. Sullivan graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine  in 2003 where she received her  Doctorate of Dental Medicine. In 2004 she completed an Advanced Education program in General Dentistry, also from the University of Pennsylvania. From there she moved to Lexington and practiced general family/cosmetic dentistry from 2004-2007 and was also a faculty member of Clinical & Restorative Dentistry at the University of  Kentucky. Dr. Sullivan received her Master's Degree & Certificate of Orthodontics from the University of Kentucky Orthodontic Graduate Program in December 2010.

Dr. Sullivan is well active in the dental/orthodontic community and belongs to many of the same committees as Dr. Ferguson and Dr. Tipton. She is a member of the Bluegrass Dental Society, Kentucky Dental Association, and the Kentucky Association of Orthodontics.

When Dr. Sullivan is not practicing orthodontics, she and her husband enjoy spending time with their 5 year-old daughter Sofia. In her free time, Dr. Sullivan also enjoys, learning languages, taking care care animals, reading, cooking and exercising.

We are very fortunate to have the help of Dr. Sullivan as this allows us to continue seeing our patients on a regular schedule when Dr. Ferguson or Dr. Tipton need to be out of the office.  Therefore, if you are in the office and see Dr. Sullivan make sure to stop and say hi!

Flat Ferguson and Tiny Tipton's Adventures

Have you been following Flat Ferguson and Tiny Tipton on our Facebook page during their adventures this summer?  If not, what are you waiting for?  Click on this link http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bluegrass-Orthodontics/122310402342 which will bring you to our facebook page, then click the "like" button and you too can watch where they will go next!

Both Flat Ferguson and Tiny Tipton have been very busy this summer.  They have traveled to Florida, New Mexico, Alabama, California, New York, South Carolina and even China! However, in between all this traveling to different states, they have decided to visit some local areas also, such as Centre College and a Wigwam Village in Kentucky.

If you can not get onto our Facebook page, we have uploaded some of their voyages below.  We hope you enjoy the pictures.  Remember, it is still not too late to pick up your Flat Ferguson and Tiny Tipton.  They are at every office just waiting to go on an adventure with you this summer!

Flat Ferguson at the top of the Empire State Building in New York.

Flat Ferguson hanging out at the beach in South Carolina.

Flat Ferguson visiting the Wigwam Village in Kentucky.

Tiny Tipton taking a ride in Florida.

Flat Ferguson visiting in California.

Flat Ferguson in Utah!

Here is Flat Ferguson riding a horse in Alabama!

At a rodeo in New Mexico.  Go Flat Ferguson!

Both Flat Ferguson & Tiny Tipton went to a swim camp at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky.

Here they are in China!

Flat Ferguson wore glasses while he visited the Great Wall of China!

Partners in Education Update

WE ARE ALMOST THERE!!!!

 We started this program August 1, 2010 with a goal of donating $25,000.00 by August 1, 2011.  We are proud to announce that as of today, July 7, 2011 we have donated a total of $24,300.00 to local area schools through our Partners in Education program. We can see our goal in the near future and we'd like to say thank you for all that have made this possible. We can't wait to spread the good news once we have obtained our goal!