Our Story

Preventive orthodontic treatment solutions have always been of primary importance to us. With that in mind, we developed an early treatment protocol that virtually eliminates extraction of teeth. Another one of our main concerns is patient comfort, and we realized that the way conventional brackets are designed makes them more difficult to debond from primary teeth without hurting the patient. For this reason we invented DEBRA® brackets. Their unique design allows the brackets to conform well to primary teeth while also being easy to debond, resulting in a much better patient experience.

We established Mixed Dentition Orthodontics (MDO) in early 2019 as a family business. The mission of the company is to leverage the expansion and alignment capabilities of fixed appliances to correct developing malocclusions. We believe that early mixed dentition is an optimal time for growth modification to prevent the formation of facial/skeletal deformities.

Primary teeth in mixed dentition can bolster the anchorage provided by the permanent 1st molars to create the possibility of more effective and complete early intervention. Initially we used bicuspid brackets on the primary canines and molars, however we encountered multiple drawbacks to this approach. We discovered that the rhomboid shape of permanent tooth bracket bases made it difficult to bond them at an angle on the primary teeth in order to extrude or intrude the permanent incisors. Furthermore, debonding these brackets from primary teeth was uncomfortable for patients due to the smaller root surface area and increased mobility. We needed specially designed brackets for use on the primary teeth, which is how the idea for DEBRA brackets came about.

DEBRA brackets, with their round or ovoid bases, can be bonded to the primary teeth at any desired angle. Additionally, their debonding tabs and central slit allows for easy and painless removal of the brackets from even extremely loose, exfoliating primary teeth.

Here is a little bit about us:

Cameron Mashouf, DDS, MS attended Loyola University, where he obtained his orthodontic certificate in 1972. He then served for 2 years under Dr. Tom Graber as a fellow in orthodontics at the University of Chicago. Through Dr. Graber’s mentorship, he became highly interested in growth modification in early mixed dentition. Dr. Mashouf moved to the Bay Area in 1975, where he worked for 22 years as a partner at a pedo-ortho practice, primarily on mixed dentition-age children. This period marked the beginnings of the development of his “mixed dentition-specific” treatment protocol. He has been practicing in San Jose since 1987, and has an Adjunct Associate Professor teaching position at the University of the Pacific Dugoni School Of Dentistry in San Francisco.  

Kayhan Mashouf, DMD, MSD completed his dental education at Boston University School of Dental Medicine and completed his orthodontic training at University of Colorado Denver in 2013. Near the end of his training, he began collaborating with his father, Cameron, in writing about early orthodontic intervention. Since graduation, he has been at the forefront of refining the mixed dentition-specific treatment protocol and studying its treatment outcomes.