By Debbie Adams
dadams@mainstreetnewspapers.com
Mountain View Orthodontics opened in downtown Vinton in 2018 at 221 South Maple Street. Dr. Bana Hosseinian (affectionately known as Dr. H.) took over the practice from orthodontist Dr. Timothy Janowicz. Her team includes a staff of seven.
The business offers a complete range of state-of-the-art dental services for all ages. Dr. H. says the practice blends “cutting edge technology with traditional orthodontics to achieve optimized results.”
While traditional braces are their mainstay, those other “cutting edge” services include Invisalign clear aligners, oral 3D scanning, iTero digital scanning (eliminating the need for impressions), laser treatments, TADS anchoring devices for implants, Radiance clear brackets, Zoom Whitening, along with highly specialized surgical orthodontics, cleft and craniofacial treatments for those with special needs, and devices for the treatment of sleep apnea.
Dr. H. notes that braces are not just for children anymore; they are increasing popular among adults, who often choose the Invisalign system. Dr. H. says her aim with braces for adults is to give them “a beautiful smile and a healthier bite.”
She says she feels blessed to have set up practice in Vinton and the Roanoke Valley– “it is absolutely home now”– because of the community where she “has been warmly welcomed and supported since Day One.”
Dr. Hosseinian has been practicing orthodontics since 2011. The family moved to Roanoke in 2015. Her husband, Farhad Sahebjam, is a gastroenterologist with Carilion. Both their daughters were born here—one age 6, the other a 3-year-old.
She is a board-certified specialist (only about a third of all orthodontists in the country are board-certified) and a diplomate of the American Board of Orthodontics, the highest level of educational achievement in orthodontics.
(A diplomate is a dentist who has made significant achievements beyond the mandatory educational requirements of a specific field, demonstrating verified specialized knowledge and skill.)
Her office wall is covered with various degrees and honors she has attained over the years. She began her studies at the University of California, San Diego, majoring in biochemistry and cell biology, with a minor in music. She participated in the music therapy program and played piano for patients to help improve their recovery.
During college, she realized she had a passion to work with people and “brighten their smiles.”
She was accepted into the prestigious School of Dentistry at UCLA. After completing her DDS degree, she went on to pursue a three-year highly specialized postgraduate program in orthodontics and maxillofacial orthopedics at the University of Pittsburgh. There she had the opportunity to conduct studies in the field of craniofacial research and received a Thomas Braun Distinctive Award and Scholarship while completing a Master of Dental Science degree.
The experience in craniofacial research sparked her interest in pursuing training at New York University where she completed a fellowship in cleft lip and palate and craniofacial studies.
During that fellowship, Dr. H. gained experience not just in treating patients who were medically compromised and with special needs, but also in treating patients who had more complicated bites, were born with cleft lip and palate, and those with skeletal jaw discrepancies that required surgical orthodontic treatment— the “hard cases” she says she was fortunate to work with and learn from.
She says this field is her “true passion,” helping patients with facial differences, helping them with their smile and bite, and also improving their quality of life.
The latest addition to her wall of honors is a certificate naming her as a “board certified” diplomate in dental sleep medicine. Dental sleep medicine is an area of dental practice that focuses on the use of oral appliance therapy to treat sleep-disordered breathing, including snoring and obstructive sleep apnea.
Earning her certificate has led to establishing the “Mountain View Dental Sleep Medicine Center,” at the Maple Street location, in addition to her regular practice. She will be working with individuals who have issues with (can’t tolerate) CPAP machines for sleep apnea. She and her staff will be creating (in collaboration with a physician) dental sleep appliances.
(Mountain View Orthodontics also makes Invisalign trays, splints, retainers, and other dental appliances in their offices.)
In her time out of the office, Dr. H. assists the Carilion Clinic as adjunct faculty helping teach hospital dental residents as well as participating alongside the multidisciplinary Cleft Lip and Palate team in taking care of patient needs.
Dr. H. and her staff take an active role in the community, fundraising for various causes, and appearing at school fairs and programs to offer information.
The hours at Mountain View Orthodontics are Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; closed on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.
Patients are referred to Dr. Hosseinian by their dentist or they can call for an appointment themselves without a referral. Call 540-342-9876, visit the website at www.orthomv.com or their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Banahosseinian. The website includes a blog which answers basic questions on orthodontics, such as “When is it time to get braces?”
The Vinton office is a central convenient location for many Vinton area schools– elementary, middle, and high– reducing missed hours from school for frequent braces appointments.
Dr. H says the goal of the team at Mountain View Orthodontics is to be “kind, professional, and caring. You come in as a patient; you leave as family.”
