Healthy teeth make you happy to share your smile with the world. But there’s more to your smile than its beauty! There’s a lot of hard work going on, too.

Teeth Are Designed for Healthy Eating

Humans are omnivores, which means we can eat both meat and plants. That’s why our teeth have different shapes—they’re designed to help us eat different kinds of food. 

• Incisors, our front teeth, have sharper edges to help cut through meats and other harder foods when we bite.
• Canines, the pointed teeth, help tear food into bite-size bits.
• Premolars are flat topped and have two cusps, or raised points, which help grind food. 
• Molars are the flat-topped teeth in the back of the mouth. They have four cusps to grind and crush food into a paste. 

So: Incisors and canines bite and tear food into smaller pieces, and then molars and premolars crush and grind those pieces into a paste. Bite, tear, crush, grind—that’s a lot of work! But it’s the key to healthy digestion. 

Chewing is the first step in digestion. Digestion means breaking down our food into parts which our bodies can use as fuel to grow. When you chew your food well, it’s easier for your body to break that food down, to swallow it, and to get the proteins, vitamins, and minerals in your healthy diet. 

But when your teeth hurt, it’s hard to chew food well, which makes digestion harder and sometimes uncomfortable. To get the most from your healthy diet, you need healthy teeth!

Teeth Have Other Important Jobs, Too

• They Help Us Speak

Our teeth work with our tongues and lips to form many of the sounds which make up speech. Try saying the word “teeth,” and see how your tongue and teeth work together!

• They Help Shape Our Faces

Our teeth look great in smiles. But there’s more! Your teeth and the way they fit together in your jaw help shape the look of your chin, lips, cheeks, and the front and sides of your face. 

• They Help Make a Healthy Bite

Our teeth and jaws are designed to work together. When something’s not lined up just right, that’s called a malocclusion, or bad bite, and can cause problems with eating, speaking, and self-confidence. Your dentist might recommend orthodontic treatment to help your teeth and jaws look their best and work their best. 

Teeth Can Only Work Their Best with Your Help

You’re in charge! 

• Brush twice and floss at least once every day to clean away plaque and food particles from your teeth. This helps to protect them from cavities. 
• Eat a healthy diet to give you the vitamins and minerals which keep your teeth strong.
• Make sure you wear mouth protection when you play sports or do activities where you may fall, or collide with another person, or be hit with equipment like balls, bats, and pucks.   
• See your dentist regularly for exams and cleanings.

Talk to your pediatric dentist to learn more about how to help your teeth work their best for you—and be ready to share that beautiful smile!

Orthodontic treatment traditionally begins somewhere between the ages of 10 and 14—but there’s no need to stand on tradition where your family’s dental health is concerned! An orthodontic evaluation will let you know each family member’s best options for healthier, more confident smiles even before the tween years and even after reaching adulthood.

First Visit—By Age 7

Dentists recommend that you schedule a first orthodontic evaluation for your child by age seven (or earlier if any bite problems or jaw asymmetry are apparent). By this age, most children have a mix of both adult and baby teeth, and orthodontists can determine whether the position and development of the teeth and jaws are on track.

During this visit, Drs. Cartsos and Zavras will also carefully assess how your child’s teeth and jaws fit together when biting down. Healthy occlusion, or bite, means that the teeth and jaws are aligned and work together comfortably. A malocclusion, or bad bite, means that there is a problem with this alignment.

Drs. Cartsos and Zavras might discover:

• No issues for concern.
• A possibility for future orthodontic problems. In this case, follow-up appointments might be scheduled to determine whether and when treatment should occur.
• Orthodontic problems which are already evident, with a recommendation for early intervention.

Early Orthodontic Intervention—Ages 6-9

Some children can benefit from “interceptive orthodontics,” first stage orthodontic treatment begun around the ages of six to nine.

Early intervention can help prevent crowded teeth, protect protruding teeth, and correct jaw alignment problems.

• If a child has a small upper dental arch, palatal expanders can gently enlarge the arch to make room for the adult teeth to arrive without crowding.
• When a baby tooth is lost too soon, space maintainers save room for the adult tooth beneath it to erupt in just the right spot.
• Protruding front teeth have a higher risk of injury from falls or collisions, and treatment will help protect them.
• Treatment for malocclusions like overbites, underbites, and open bites helps create a more comfortable, symmetrical, and healthy bite while young bones are growing, and may prevent the necessity for more complicated treatment in the teen years.

Tween and Teen Years—Ages 10-14

It’s common to treat malocclusions during the tween/teen years. During this stage of development, it’s easier for teeth to move to their ideal positions, because most of the adult teeth have arrived and the jawbones haven’t completed their growth.

Today’s orthodontics offers teens a number of treatment options:

• Braces are smaller and more comfortable, and brackets come in a variety of colors and materials to blend in or stand out.
• Clear aligners are almost invisible, and can treat many types of mild to moderate malocclusions.
• Functional appliances like the Herbst® appliance, the Forsus™ device, the twin-block appliance, and headgear work with braces or aligners to help correct more complex malocclusions.

And there’s more—modern orthodontic options are more effective, taking less time to create a beautiful, healthy smile.

Older Patients of Any Age

As you’ve grown older, you may have noticed that your once-straight teeth are becoming a bit crowded. You may be suffering dental pain and injured teeth because of a long-term bite problem. You may have always wanted a more attractive, comfortable smile, but weren’t able to access treatment when you were younger.

Good news! As long as your teeth and gums are healthy, orthodontic treatment can be a great way to keep them healthy. And today’s orthodontics offer a much wider and less noticeable variety of treatment options than the larger metal braces you might remember from decades ago. Depending on your needs, the team at Convivial Dental could recommend:

• Traditional braces—brackets are smaller than ever and come in a choice of several materials and colors, including ceramic, tooth-colored, and clear brackets.
• Clear aligners—an almost invisible way to straighten teeth, and removeable when necessary (as long as they’re worn 20-22 hours each day).
• Lingual braces—the least visible treatment, because brackets and wires are attached behind the teeth.

Crowded teeth and malocclusions often lead to lifelong problems, including worn or cracked enamel, headaches, jaw problems, increased risk of tooth decay and periodontal disease, and decreased self-confidence. Whether you’re graduating high school or getting ready for your golden reunion, it’s not too late for an orthodontic assessment.

If you’re concerned about your own or your child’s orthodontic health, problems with alignment and bite are best treated as early as possible to prevent dental damage, improve self-confidence, and avoid more complicated treatment in the future. So, when’s the best time to schedule an orthodontic assessment in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts? There’s no better time than today!

Perhaps you’ve heard from parents or older relatives what braces used to be like years ago—obvious, uncomfortable, hard to clean, and with inevitable tooth extractions to start off the whole lengthy process.

Today, brackets are much smaller and wires are more pliable. You can even choose ceramic brackets or clear aligners for an almost invisible effect. New tools make cleaning your braces easier than ever. And new braces technology means that treatment is often shorter. But what about extractions? Are they still inevitable?

For orthodontists like Drs. Cartsos and Zavras, the objective is saving teeth. And modern practices and technology have made this goal more attainable than ever before. There are several ways that modern treatment procedures can help avoid extractions.

• Early Intervention

We recommend that children visit our Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts office for an orthodontic evaluation by age seven. Because a child’s jaw is still forming at this age, early intervention can lead to orthodontic treatment that expands the jaw in order to make room for permanent teeth, or starts correcting bite problems before they become more serious.

• High-Tech Planning

Today’s technology allows us to map out the progression of your treatment before we begin. Scanners, X-rays, and computer programs help us to design a treatment plan which will accurately predict how best to move your teeth and correct your bite, taking into account the size and development of your teeth and jaw.

• Surgical Options

By the time you reach your late teen years, the jaw bones have stopped growing and it’s no longer possible to expand them without surgery. Oral surgery can treat serious jaw problems that impact your teeth and bite, usually as part of a combined treatment plan designed by your orthodontist and your oral surgeon.

Because we always work to keep teeth intact—using these methods and others—you can be sure that, if we recommend extraction, it is absolutely necessary. What could make an extraction necessary?

• Severe overcrowding. Sometimes, there’s just not enough room in the jaw for all of your teeth.
• A tooth or teeth that prevent us from correcting a problem with your bite.
• Wisdom teeth. Usually, orthodontic work takes place before a patient’s wisdom teeth start to erupt. If yours do make an appearance before or during treatment, we can adapt our treatment plan accordingly.
• An extra tooth. It’s rare, but an extra, or supernumerary, tooth sometimes develops, and your jaw is not designed to accommodate extras!

It’s important that you talk to Drs. Cartsos and Zavras about every step of your treatment, including extractions. We want you to understand the treatment plan which will give you your best outcome. If we recommend extraction, it is because this decision is the best way to achieve a healthy bite and alignment, creating your beautiful smile—and protecting it—for a lifetime.

At Convivial Dental, we’re lucky to have dentists with very different backgrounds, specialties, and personalities, but one thing in common: they genuinely care about the people behind every smile. Our practice caters to the needs of both adults and children. Our adult dentists, Dr. Christian Ford and Dr. Anna Liapaki will be portrayed in our next communication. Today, get to know our dental specialists: Dr. Cartsos, Dr. Zavras, and Dr. Rifkin! 

Meet Dr. Vicky Cartsos

Orthodontist | Dentofacial Orthopedics

With 30 years of orthodontic clinical experience, Dr. Cartsos brings a sophisticated understanding of orthodontics, facial development and long-term oral health to the care of children and adults. She specializes in Early Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics, Full Comprehensive Orthodontic treatment as well as Multidisciplinary Craniofacial orthodontic treatment which involves all dental disciplines including Restorative and Orthognathic (jaw) surgery. She approaches each patient’s care with clinical precision and a thoughtful understanding of their individual needs, esthetics, and lifestyle.

For Dr. Cartsos, great orthodontic care is about more than straight teeth.

Her expertise extends beyond her private practice at Convivial Dental. As an Associate Professor of Orthodontics and Former Clinical Postgraduate Program Director at Tufts University Dental School, she brings the clinical evidence-based knowledge and the newest field related techniques to her everyday clinical practice. She is also a co-founding member of the Tufts Medical Center Craniofacial-Cleft Lip & Palate Team, where she spent over 10 years collaborating across specialties to care for patients with complex needs. This depth of experience is matched by her warm, nurturing approach and belief that exceptional orthodontic care should help patients feel comfortable, understood and confident throughout treatment.

Last year, on November 12, 2025, Dr. Cartsos was inducted in the American Academy of Dental Science based on her profound impact on the academic, clinical and professional contributions in the dental community.

When she’s not treating patients or teaching the next generation of orthodontists, you’ll probably find Dr. Cartsos traveling, playing tennis, skiing, or spending time with her husband, Dr. Zavras, and their two sons, Jason and John.

Meet Dr. Ethan (Athanasios) Zavras

Pediatric Dentist | Dental Director

Dr. Zavras has built his 30+ years career at the intersection of pediatric dentistry, education, research and prevention. His approach is grounded in a deep understanding of how oral health influences a child’s overall well-being. His clinical experience is vast and extends from personalized prevention to restorative dentistry to complex dentistry at Franciscan Children’s Hospital where he treats children that require general anesthesia. 

To deliver a highly personalized and comfortable experience, Dr. Zavras incorporates advanced technology, including CBCT 3D imaging, intraoral scanners, and dental lasers. 

His expertise extends well beyond Convivial Dental. Dr. Zavras serves as tenured Endowed Professor and Chairman of the Department of Public Health and Community Service and Associate Dean for Global Affairs at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine. He also serves at the University Senate, in Governor Healey’s Special Commission on Oral Health for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and at the International Association of Dental Research.  

In the past, he has been Chair of Pediatric Dentistry at Boston University (2014-2022), Professor and Director at Columbia University College of Dental Medicine (2009-2014) and Professor and Program Director at Harvard University (1999-2009). 

His impact on oral health is recognized by the generations of dentists he has trained, the tens of scientific articles he has published in the most authoritative journals, two USPTO patents on oral diagnostics, his advanced research sponsored by the US government and his work at the World Health Organization in the early 2000s. But what he enjoys most is the friendships he has established at Convivial Dental with so many of our wonderful families and patients and the passion and the challenge of providing the best quality care possible.

Outside the practice and the University, Dr. Zavras enjoys serving in humanitarian dental missions for children in-need (ask about his next travel to the Island of Lesvos to care for refugee children), building AI agents, bicycling, swimming and traveling with his wife, Dr. Vicky Cartsos.  

Meet Dr. Marissa Rifkin

Pediatric Dentist

Dr. Rifkin brings advanced pediatric training and a thoughtful, highly individualized approach to caring for children. She is experienced in treating patients with a wide range of medical and behavioral needs, with a particular focus on prevention, family education and building the trust that helps children feel comfortable and confident during dental visits.

Her path to pediatric dentistry includes a degree in Human Biology from Cornell University, her DDS from Columbia University College of Dental Medicine, and a pediatric dentistry residency at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center, where she served as Chief Resident.

Dr. Rifkin also has a creative side. While in dental school, she co-authored The Tooth Fairy’s Busy Day, a children’s book designed to make learning about preventive dental care and oral health a little more fun.

Dr. Rifkin’s combination of dental competence, experience and confidence along with her charming, caring and warm approach are the secrets for gaining children’s trust and putting parents at ease.

Originally from Westchester County, NY, Dr. Rifkin now calls Boston home. Outside of dentistry, she enjoys staying active, discovering great restaurants, traveling, and cheering on the Celtics.

One Team, Three Unique Specialized Perspectives

Whether you’re looking for orthodontic care, pediatric dentistry, or a team that takes a thoughtful, prevention-focused approach to oral health, the doctors at Convivial Dental bring their own unique perspective and expertise to every patient they treat.

Most importantly, they’re here to make dental care feel a little more personal, a little more comfortable, and a lot more convivial.

Ready to meet our team? Call Convivial Dental at 617-735-0800. We look forward to welcoming you and your family!