Palo Alto Orthodontist Dr. Morrill can help snoring too

Everyone knows that you should go to an orthodontist if you need your teeth straightened, but did you know that they can help prevent snoring too?

Larry Morrill offers an appliance that is unlike any other device out there. Sure you could buy nose strips, or spray, but Dr. Morrill can provide a customized appliance called SomnoDent that repositions the lower jaw forward to reduce and often eliminate snoring. These appliances are custom-made for each patient, and then are gradually adjusted to bring the lower jaw forward enough to eliminate snoring.

Even more important than snoring, the device can be used to treat sleep apnea, a serious medical condition diagnosed by a sleep study.  It can lead to being chronically tired, and in severe cases, to various medical problems, including heart failure.

So if you're looking for a way to get a better nights sleep, calling Dr. Morrill might just be the way to go.

To set up a consultation call 650-322-2817.

The Smile Doctor is Palo Alto Orthodontist

Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love. ~ Mother Teresa

An orthodontist is the official title of Dr. Larry Morrill, but a more appropriate one might just be the “smile doctor.”

When he first graduated from Dental School at the University of Southern California (USC),  he  knew he wanted to work with teeth, but there had to be something more than just filling a cavity or giving a patient a shot.

When he went to a general residence program at the public health center in New York City, he was introduced to the different specialties. Immediately the world of orthodontics  became his calling.

“I felt orthodontics was the thing I was interested in because you could develop a long-term relationship with the people you work with and see them grow,” he said. “I wanted to offer a service that would impact their whole life in terms of self esteem, their appearance, and their smile.”

For Dr. Morrill, there’s nothing more rewarding than seeing a  patient walk  into  his office for the first time as a shrinking violet because they don’t have great teeth or a nice smile. By the time Dr. Morrill is finished with them, they emerge as an entirely different person.

“I can remember when my wife and I were driving up to UCSF to dental school and wondering what it would be like to be an orthodontist,” he said. “I remember saying I was interested in not only working with my own patients but that maybe we could go to some underdeveloped countries and help the children there.”

Dr. Morrill has fulfilled his aspirations by going to Mexico and South America to help children with cleft lips and cleft palates.

“I remember children with their face covered because they were ashamed to show their face,” he said. “By doing the work to give them that smile, it made all the difference in the world.”

THERE'S NO SUBSTITUTE FOR EXPERIENCE WHEN LOOKING FOR ORTHODONTIST

For more than four decades Dr. Larry Morrill has worked out of the same office in Palo Alto, Calif. at 1000 Welch Road Suite 201. And there is no doubt in his mind that the orthodontist he is today is far superior to the one when he started. And it’s all because of one simple reason. Experience.

When a patient goes to an orthodontist, it is typically to straighten their teeth. For the orthodontist, such as Dr. Morrill, they become problem solvers. Far before the patient comes in for an appointment, Dr. Morrill studies Xrays to figure exactly what needs to be done. And being able to draw on countless patients that he’s helped over the years is something that can’t be taught in school.

“Because I’ve seen patients that have been seeing me for 10 or more years, I can see exactly the results of the decisions we originally made,” he said. “By seeing it play out, we can use that knowledge to help future patients.”

Other orthodontists have benefited from hearing Dr. Morrill lecture and pass along his knowledge from experience to them.

Still, even though he has experience, he is quick to point out that doesn’t translate into complacency. Even though Dr. Morrill has seen nearly every type of orthodontic challenge walk through his door, he never takes any patient for granted. As similar as every case may be, each person is unique.

“You have to take the time and look at each case individually, because the moment you think you have it figured out, something will get past you,” he said.

Palo Alto Orthodontist builds legacy with the children

Dollars and cents isn’t the only reason Dr. Larry Morrill has been putting more than four decades into his orthodontics practice in Palo Alto. It’s the joy of seeing people’s lives change that a great looking mouth can bring. No more is this illustrated in his bi-monthly commitment to the Craniofacial Anomalies (CFA) Clinic at the Lucile Salter Packard Children’s Hospital, Stanford University Medical Center, in Palo Alto.

Working with two other orthodontists, Stacey Law and Lesley Samuels, they meet regularly to discuss the treatment course of young patients that many would give up on.

Featured in Orthodontic Products as “Wednesday Warriors”,  Dr. Morrill says:

"I remember a young boy less than a month old who had a total cleft lip and palate," says Morrill, who owns a private practice in Palo Alto, Calif. "We started with early devices to align the ridges so that lip surgery would be more successful. I saw him over the next 18 years for primary, secondary, and follow-up orthodontics interspersed with surgery on his nose—and orthognathic surgery on his jaws. Here in Palo Alto, he ended up looking good, a star pitcher on the baseball team, and quarterback on the football team. He ultimately received a baseball scholarship to the University of Southern California."

Dr. Morrill is one of the most well known and sought after orthodontists in the Bay Area because of his experience. With sometimes 55 patients a day, there isn’t a lot he hasn’t seen or doesn’t know how to fix.  To find out more about Dr. Morrill his office can be reached at 650-322-2817 or Contact Us.

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