Blog

Many adults think that they don’t need braces, or that they’re too old to get them. That can be farther from the truth! Many adults can (and in some cases, should) get braces or other types of orthodontic treatment. At Stormberg Orthodontics, we see adult patients all the time! Our team is happy to help people of all ages, no matter what background or dental work they have done in the past. If you’re an adult who is seeking orthodontic treatment, here are 6 things you need to know.

Going into any surgery can be scary. With any oral surgery, any patient should be prepared to mentally and physically. While this can seem overwhelming, you can take certain steps to ensure that your surgery goes smoothly. At Stormberg Orthodontics, we want all patients to feel as comfortable as they can before, during, and after jaw surgery. If you’re preparing for surgery, here are some tips to help set you up for a successful recovery.

Invisalign is one of the most popular, innovative ways to straighten teeth, and is taking off among teenagers and adults alike because of its nearly invisible appearance, comfort, and reliability. Today Dr. Kurt Stormberg of Stormberg Orthodontics in La Mesa, CA answers parents’ frequently asked questions about Invisalign Teen, what makes it different, and how well it works.

With any orthodontic treatment, it’s essential to take care of the appliances that you are wearing and using. It’s important to keep your appliances clean in order to maintain an optimal level of oral health. Proper care for a non-removable oral appliance, such as a palatal expander, can take some extra time. But don’t worry! Stormberg Orthodontics has some tips and tricks to help anyone who is wearing rapid palatal expanders. Since many patients who receive a palatal expander are very young, it’s important for parents to be aware of these care needs. Our office has experience working with palatal expanders, and our staff has first-hand experience that can help parents deal with their children wearing them.

Braces are a big step for any patient, but especially kids. Stormberg Orthodontics understands that there could be mixed feelings about braces - some children may be excited about their new hardware whereas other kids might be feeling anxious or even a little scared. All feelings are perfectly normal! There are a few things parents can do to get their kids excited about their upcoming orthodontic journey. Our orthodontist in La Mesa recommends trying the following tactics to brighten your child’s mood about braces! On our website, we have a Brace Color Chooser under the tab of Orthodontic Treatment. Pick and choose your colors to coincide with a holiday, school or work function, sports teams or just your favorite colors. These colors will be changed at each appointment, so your choices could be endless! The patient can choose what type of braces, clear or metal braces without any additional charge or Invisalign Teen/Invisalign as an option, if applicable.

Finally getting your braces off is exciting. After a long time, you are able to see your teeth again. And while you can celebrate this achievement, it’s important to know that treatment is not over. Retention is one of the most important phases of orthodontic treatment.

Jaw surgery (orthognathic surgery) sounds like a lot to recover from and it can be if you don’t let your jaw heal correctly. Here at Stormberg Orthodontics, your local La Mesa Orthodontist, we prioritize taking care of our patients before, during, and after their jaw surgery, which is why we are so invested in helping our patients heal quickly and completely. While other jaw surgeons might whisk you in and out the door, Dr. Kurt Stormberg makes it his mission to guide his patients through the jaw surgery journey, helping them to have a pain-free and holistic recovery process. If you live in La Mesa, San Diego, East County, or South Bay, find out how you can ensure a speedy recovery after getting jaw surgery with Stormberg Orthodontics!

Misaligned teeth don’t always mess up a beautiful smile; some malocclusions can be more subtle, hidden behind other teeth, or they can even be endearing to some people. But even if your misaligned teeth don’t keep you from smiling, they can cause a lot of problems later on in life, which can be both expensive and painful to fix. Here at Stormberg Orthodontics, your local La Mesa orthodontics experts, we believe that everyone is entitled not only to a beautiful smile but a healthy and long-lasting smile as well. Find out why you should treat your child’s misaligned teeth early and avoid the consequences that come from a neglected smile! The American Academy of Orthodontics recommends a first check-up by the age of 7. At Stormberg Orthodontics, we offer a complimentary examination to evaluate what personal treatment your child may or may not need. Most patients are under a “wait and see” recall until all the permanent teeth have erupted.

Stormberg Orthodontics is your local San Diego County orthodontist, and your provider for Invisalign and braces in the South Bay. Dr. Kurt Stormberg has been helping patients achieve the results they’ve been dreaming of with customizable treatment plans and excellent care since 1998. Whether you choose braces or Invisalign, perfecting your smile will be a multi-stage process, and your retainer will make all the difference. Check out these reasons why retainers are important after braces.

Remember your kit you received when you started? That has a lot of good information, tips, and tools, to help you on the go! Also, visit our website, www.orthosandiego.com, for more ideas, blogs, instructions for your individual treatment. We are always a phone call away, 619-462-4462.

Spring is here and now is a great time to prepare for the summer, especially since life is resuming back to normal! With a busy schedule during the summer, such as graduations, camp, summer school, vacations, going outdoors, it is easy to forget about the importance of taking care of your braces. But remember, the better you take care of them, the quicker it will be to get them off. Then you will have beautiful, perfect teeth for those summer family reunion photos!

Want to know more about if you or your child qualifies for Braces? Our team of trained staff will help you with any orthodontic need. Contact us today!

We wanted to wish you a happy Halloween season! We also wanted to share some tips and advice on how to take care of your teeth during the sweetest and one of our favorite times of the year!

Check out our brand new COVID-19 Protocol Page, which has all the information our patients need to understand how we, at Stormberg Orthodontics, are trying to fight the coronavirus pandemic. 

At Stormberg Orthodontics, we want to ensure that you get the most out of your Invisalign treatment to efficiently straighten and correct your teeth. In order to do so, you not only need to wear your Invisalign aligners/trays for 22+ hours per day, but you also need to intently care for your Invisalign trays. Cleaning and caring for your Invisalign takes time and dedication to make sure your trays do their job, but also to keep your teeth and dental health at it’s best. The Stormberg Orthodontics team, serving the San Diego area, has put together the best habits to keep your Invisalign trays clean and your teeth cleaner.

Typically, most people will associate poor oral hygiene and health with dental issues such as cavities and gum disease. While this isn’t wrong at all, the truth is that it can lead to problems with the rest of a person’s body as well. The mouth is essentially the window to the rest of the body; if there are any problems that are residing in the mouth, they can have just as much of an impact on the rest of the body.

One of the things that we pride ourselves on the most here at Stormberg Orthodontics is our yearly handout of the Kurt Stormberg Scholarship. Your San Diego orthodontist, Dr. Kurt Stormberg has awarded over 35 $1,000 scholarships since 2006. And now, he’s about to hand out six more!

n February 8th, our own La Mesa, CA board-certified orthodontist, Dr. Kurt Stormberg was honored with the School of Dentistry’s Alumni Merit Award during Creighton’s inaugural Evening of Honors celebration.

Stormberg Orthodontics is throwing our 20th annual patient appreciation party for past and current patients! Become apart of the Stormberg family!

Graduation is approaching for many of our present and past adolescent orthodontic patients – and if you're a senior preparing to head off to college this year, we've got an opportunity we'd love for you to take part in.

At Stormberg Orthodontics, we believe our patients come first. That means quality braces and orthodontic treatment, an enjoyable experience with our orthodontist, and even the occasional contest! We love being able to give back to our patients. That’s why we offer orthodontic care and contests throughout the San Diego and La Mesa area.

Whether we’re treating patients with braces in San Diego or hosting contests for our patients, we love to make you smile. Stormberg Orthodontics provides quality orthodontic care throughout the San Diego and La Mesa area. We love offering our patients orthodontic treatment that they can count on. We prioritize your satisfaction. That is why we also host a number of contests, providing opportunities to give back to our patients and the community.

Winter's finally here, and that means it’s vacation time! Whether you’re headed to an island resort packed full of postcard views, or jet setting to Europe to backpack across the country, vacations are generally a time to relax and set aside your worries about everyday life. While you should aim to live life to the fullest during your getaway, your braces are unfortunately one thing that can’t be ignored for very long; they require constant, attentive care. That’s why your San Diego orthodontist at Stormberg Orthodontics has put together this helpful list of how-to tips and tricks for braces care while you’re gallivanting across the globe.

At Stormberg Orthodontics in La Mesa, CA, our dental team has the esteemed honor to announce that Dr. Kurt Stormberg, D.D.S., M.S., is now the president of The Pacific Coast Society of Orthodontists! For those of you who aren’t familiar with this organization, The Pacific Coast Society of Orthodontists is a professional organization of orthodontic specialists whose mission is to help its members provide the highest level of care to the public! Founded in 1912, The Pacific Coast Society of Orthodontists boasts nearly 3,000 members today!

Feeling down in the dumps? Looking for a simple solution to feeling happy again? Here at Stormberg Orthodontics in San Diego and La Mesa, our orthodontists and staff want all of our patients to lead a happy and healthy life; which is why we are here to let you know that happiness is only a few smiles away! Smiling, regardless if it occurs naturally or is forced, creates a chemical reaction that tricks your brain into feeling happier almost immediately!

At Stormberg Orthodontics, we're proud to help patients of all ages throughout greater San Diego achieve beautiful new smiles through high-quality orthodontic treatments. We feel truly blessed to do the work we do every day, and we're deeply proud to be a part of the San Diego community. That's why we strive to give back to our community at every possible opportunity – and this October, we're working to better our community by asking our patients to Pink Your Smile!

At Stormberg Orthodontics, we're proud to do the work we do everywhere, and we're always eager for opportunities to give back to our patients. That's why every Halloween, we offer a candy buyback program, giving you an opportunity to get rid of the candy you don't want or can't eat with braces, give back to the San Diego community, and earn a little spending money for yourself!

At Stormberg Orthodontics, we're proud to help patients throughout La Mesa and the greater San Diego, CA area achieve gorgeous new smiles through orthodontic treatment. We serve patients of all ages at our practice, and while adolescence may be the most common time for orthodontic treatment, a large portion of our patients come from an age group you might not expect: college students! We treat many students from the University of San Diego and San Diego State University with convenient orthodontic treatment, and if you've been considering finally improving your own smile, we can help.

Did your child get braces over the summer and is now heading into school with new orthodontic appliances? No need to worry or be nervous, Stormberg Orthodontics will help you through the adjustment period. Whether you’ve got braces, clear braces, or Invisalign, our orthodontist and staff can help prepare you for the new school year! We have the tips and tricks to walk confidently into another school year and crush your studies. For questions or concerns, call or stop by our office in La Mesa, easily reached by Santee, El Cajon, and entire San Diego area!

It’s that time of year again. The time to announce the winners of the 2018 Stormberg Scholarship Winners. At Stormberg Orthodontics, we treat our patients like family and our commitment to patient care and patient happiness is our top priority. Since 2006, Dr. Kurt Stormberg has actively helped his patients around La Mesa prepare themselves for college, and that is why we offer a $1,000 scholarship to graduating seniors each year.

Mark your calendars, it’s our annual patient appreciation party! At Stormberg Orthodontics we strive to provide high quality orthodontic treatments such as, braces, clear braces and Invisalign to patients of all ages in the San Diego, El Cajon, La Mesa and Santee area. We want to show our appreciation for our past and current patients from the San Diego community by hosting our 19th annual patient appreciation party!

It’s that time of year again! The San Diego Lake Murray Music Fest and Fireworks show is returning to Lake Murray July 4th, 2018. At Stormberg Orthodontics we strive to provide high quality orthodontic treatments to patients in the San Diego, El Cajon, La Mesa and Santee area, while also understanding the importance of giving back to the community that gives so much to us. Our goal by sponsoring the fireworks this year at Lake Murray is to show our appreciation towards the San Diego community.

At Stormberg Orthodontics, we're proud to provide a wide range of orthodontic treatments to patients of all ages throughout San Diego, CA and the surrounding areas. While the most popular treatment we offer is still traditional metal braces, Invisalign is a convenient, exciting alternative – and now, it's more convenient than ever. We're excited to announce a new step in Invisalign treatment: the My Invisalign App!

Online braces, also referred to as “at-home” orthodontics, are a new solution for those that want a straighter smile without the having to deal with the cost of traditional orthodontic care. However, as this new treatment grows in popularity, the threat that it poses to the health of the patients who sign up for this treatment grows as well. While online braces programs will have you believe that you’re getting the same quality of orthodontic care as you would with a professional orthodontist, it is actually far from the truth. That’s why your local orthodontic experts here at Stormberg Orthodontics are here to examine what the real cost of online braces programs are.

You probably already know about Invisalign clear aligners, but there's a history behind this revolutionary alternative to braces. So how did Invisalign get started? It all began with an adult orthodontic patient.

When you choose Invisalign, you’re investing in an improvement in your quality of life. The beginning of the year is the perfect time to get started due to all the exciting events upcoming in spring and summer.

At Stormberg Orthodontics, we strive to help our patients make the best choices when it comes to orthodontics – and using your FSA to achieve a new smile through Invisalign treatment is an excellent idea for many patients.

Our upcoming events are Paint Your Smile Pink, our annual October event that supports breast cancer awareness, and our Candy Buy Back Program this November.

At Stormberg Orthodontics, it’s safe to say we love getting questions from our patients! We encourage questions throughout the treatment process, and some questions get asked more often than others.

We’re proud to announce our 2017 winners, and their accompanying photos, which can be found below.

Let’s have a hula good time! Our 18th Annual Patient Appreciation party is quickly approaching, so mark your calendars for July 13th from 4:00-7:00 pm.

Grab your sparklers and throw on some red, white, and blue, because the San Diego Lake Murray Music Fest and Fireworks show is returning to Lake Murray July 4th, 2017.

Dr. Stormberg and his dedicated team love seeing patients finish their orthodontic treatment and get to see their beautiful, new smile for the first time.

It’s that time of year again! Dr. Stormberg is continuing the tradition of Stormberg Scholarships, which awards $1,000 scholarships to graduating seniors who are current or former patients of Stormberg Orthodontics.

While no one likes to talk about it, bad breath is a problem many people have. It can be especially problematic when you're wearing braces as food debris and plaque can easily be left behind in all the nooks and crannies of your braces after brushing & flossing.

Stormberg Orthodontics has strived continuously to provide our patients the best possible orthodontic services, including braces, clear braces, Invisalign, and more. But we can only be as great as the community around us.

At Stormberg Orthodontics, we love being a part of the San Diego community.

Now that summer is winding down, soon the 2016-17 school year will begin. Before heading back to the classroom, schedule an appointment with Dr. Stormberg to improve your smile!

Come One, Come All! Our 17th annual Patient Appreciation party is happening on July 14th, from 4-7pm.

Do you like baseball? Do you love our beautiful Petco Park? Well don’t miss your chance to attend the 87th MLB All-Star Game at Petco Park on July 12th.

Dr. Stormberg started the Stormberg Scholarship program because it was important to him to give back to the community in a meaningful way that would have a positive effect on his patients' lives.