[caption id="attachment_68" align="alignnone" width="200"] Beautiful summertime smiles thanks to Hester & Morris![/caption]

The weather is warm and school is out… summer is here!

Most people automatically think of vacations and activities to keep the kiddos busy, but in the middle of all the fun is the best opportunity in the entire year for kids and teens to begin their braces or Invisalign journey.

Here’s why:

Scheduling is easy!

Summer brings a more relaxed routine for many families with breaks from sports and activities, AND SCHOOL - which frees parents up for making needed appointments.

Time to get used to the process!

Starting with braces over the summer means your child or teen will have those first couple of weeks to get comfortable with the look and feel of brackets. Summertime also gives them the extra time needed to get good at knowing which foods to avoid before heading back to the cafeteria.

Invisalign takes a few weeks from scan to delivery since each set of aligners is custom-designed by our doctors to your child’s unique treatment goals (thank you, 3D technology!!). Starting early in the summer gives your teen a chance to get into a good aligner-wear routine, which will set them up for the best possible outcome overall.

Start the new school year, with a smile!

We know you love taking the first day of school pics of your kids! What better way to capture their smile progress as well than to show off their cute brace faces or cool aligner cases. Consider it dual milestones for you to look back on!

While it’s always a great time for children and teens to begin with Invisalign or braces, we think summertime is the best time! Watch their confidence soar as they prepare for the next school year with their daily improving smile!

What time of year did your child begin their smile journey? Share your experiences!

2022 SMILE Award Recipients

Every spring the Hester and Morris team has been partnering with the area middle schools to give out an award for leadership.

We called this the SMILE Award which stands for shine, motivate, inspire, lead and excel -- all wonderful qualities that truly make others around them smile.

The schools select the individual and our office prepares a plaque and rewards the recipient with a $100 cash prize. The recipients do not have to be patients of Hester Morris Orthodontics, but we have been so pleased to see that many of them often are!

We are so very proud to be able to partner with our local schools and reward these deserving students who serve others so well. Congratulations to the 2022 SMILE Award recipients.

Lanier County Middle School: Drashti Patel
Valdosta Middle School: Angel Sheffield
Hahira Middle School: Mallory Rogers
Berrien County Middle School:
6th Emery Lane
7th Brandon Jones
8th Eric Martinez
Pine Grove Middle School: Yuka Bass
Lowndes Middle School: Emily Kate Hiers
Newbern Middle School: Wanda Waldon

“Your education is a dress rehearsal for a life that is yours to lead.”
—Nora Ephron

Today we are sharing something fun we recently were able to participate in!

While we always LOVE to celebrate the current and past patients who are Graduating high school, this year was EXTRA special for our team.

It's been over a decade since anyone on our team has had a graduating senior. But in 2022 we had FOUR! Four seniors have parents on staff in our office. Plus, Dr. Morris had one son "graduating" from Crossroads Baptist School and their youngest was graduating from Kindergarten. Needless to say, there was quite a lot of graduation talk in the office.

To mark this special moment  & the smiles in our office life, we had a special little photo session with Lindsay Colson of Captured by Colson Photography! It was so much fun and almost all of our students were able to attend. In addition to the two little ones from Crossroads, our photos had seniors representing Georgia Christian School, Lowndes High School, and Lanier County High School.

It was a great time to see one another outside of the office, to celebrate the graduates, and to work with Lindsay -- She's awesome! Even Dr. M got in on the action!

We hope you enjoy this peek! We are incredibly proud of these graduates and the entire Class of 2022! Congratulations -- Keep Smiling!

Have you seen our newly revamped website???

Our Hester & Morris Team has been hard at work to keep up-to-date with the latest technology in the office AND online!

Here are a few fun features we hope that you will check out!

• New Invisalign Content!!! Including videos about life with wearing your aligners, and a whole section devoted to younger patient needs with Invisalign First.
• Smile Transformations that will wow you!
• Meet The Team -- We had a lot of fun showing off our personalities!
• Our Home Page has a lot of fun and interactive features now, too! Be sure to scroll all the way down!
• And of course, the Blog!

The docs got new photos, too! We think they look pretty great! Do you know which one is Dr. Hester and which one is Dr. Morris? You'd be surprised how often we get asked that;)

Sending us an email, requesting an appointment, or recommending us to a friend is easier than ever before. You'll also find all the patient forms available here.

We are excited about more ways for us to connect with our patients! What is your favorite feature of the new site? Leave us a comment and let us know!