A great braces-friendly spring recipe! From Dr. Hilliard & team

Winter is over, and the weather is finally starting to get warmer. Our friends at the American Association of Orthodontists (AAO) made an appetizing (and braces-friendly!) spring dish that is sure to delight. Remember, a healthy diet provides essential nutrients and helps you achieve the best possible result from your orthodontic treatment.

Soy Simmered Chicken Wraps

Ingredients:

• 3 boneless chicken breast halves
• 2 large onions, chunked
• Small flour tortillas (pkg. of ten) wheat or white
• (optional: 10-16 oz. of cooked chopped broccoli)
• ¼ cup soy sauce
• ¼ cup water
• 2 Tablespoons honey
• 1/8 teaspoon ginger
• 2 Tablespoons peach or apricot jam
• 1 Tablespoon cornstarch

Directions

In a slow cooker, or a large pan on the stove, layer the onions and the chicken breast. Allow at least three hours in the slow cooker on medium, or at least one hour on the stove—the longer the better, but you don’t have to do anything to it while it cooks. Spoon out the chicken onto a cutting board, and with a knife and fork, shred the chicken as finely as you’d like. In a small saucepan, stir all sauce ingredients together over medium heat until the mixture starts bubbling, then let it simmer for five minutes on low heat to thicken. In a serving bowl, stir sauce and onion into chicken; if you’d like, add cooked chopped broccoli. Makes about six to eight servings.

Enjoy this great spring dish and have a great week!

--From Dr. Hilliard and staff

Dr. Hilliard & team, dispelling the myths about orthodontics

Our team at Hilliard Orthodontics are aware there are quite a few myths about orthodontists circulating around. Before you buy into those myths, you should get the facts! We came across a great site that helps set the record straight. Our friends at the American Association of Orthodontists have some excellent information on the myths and facts of orthodontists, check them out today!

Ask Dr. Hilliard: “I’m 34 – am I too old for braces?”

Thanks for the question – Drs. Hilliard & Dietrich will both tell you that NOBODY is “too old” for braces!

In fact, our staff at Hilliard Orthodontics read a fascinating statistic recently: the number of adults getting braces has actually climbed 24 percent since 1996! Yes, braces help make your pearly whites strong, healthy and perfectly-aligned, but perhaps another reason for the spike in adult braces is this: people want to look and feel great. In an age—and society—where looks matter as much as anything, and at a time when evenly-aligned and sparkling teeth might be the difference between getting a job or a promotion, adults are choosing—wisely, we might add—to invest in orthodontics. Orthodontic treatment with Drs. Hilliard and Dietrich can be successful at any age, and adults especially appreciate the benefits of a beautiful smile.

If you’ve been thinking about getting that perfect smile, Drs. Hilliard, Dietrich and our team would love to have you visit for a consultation. Please give us a call to set one up!

Ask Dr. Hilliard: What's the deal with retainers?

If you've recently completed treatment at Hilliard Orthodontics, we’d like to congratulate you, again! Now that your braces have been removed, Dr. Hilliard will provide—or has provided you—with retainers. After braces are removed, teeth can shift out of position if they are not stabilized. Retainers, you see, provide that stabilization. They are designed to hold teeth in their corrected, ideal positions until the bones and gums adapt to the treatment changes. Wearing retainers exactly as instructed by our staff at Hilliard Orthodontics is the best insurance that the treatment improvements last for a lifetime.

To learn more about the advantages of wearing retainers after your orthodontic treatment here at Hilliard Orthodontics, please read this helpful article about retainers or give us a call!