Everything You Need To Know About Early Orthodontic Treatment
To have a healthy smile that lasts a lifetime, your child needs teeth and jaws that are properly aligned. The American Association of Orthodontists (AAO) recommends that your child get a check-up with an orthodontist at the first recognition of an orthodontic issue, but no later than age 7. A check-up early in your child’s life gives the orthodontist the opportunity to recommend the appropriate treatment at the right time for your child.
Early Orthodontic Treatment: Braces For Young Kids
Every person is different, and there really is no rule that all the permanent teeth should be in before a patient can have braces. In fact, sometimes waiting on all of the permanent teeth to come in can actually cause major problems to develop!
Our philosophy at Edge Orthodontics is to treat patients at the right age to eliminate unnecessary work, extractions, and unneeded surgery. Finding the right treatment plan means that we have some patients start treatment as early as seven years of age, while we have also had patients start treatment well into adulthood.
Why You Should Get A Consultation
In some cases, an orthodontic concern may require an earlier orthodontic consultation. Around age 7, the first adult molars typically erupt, helping to define a patient’s back bite and allowing the orthodontist to more effectively evaluate the bite. Treatment at this age may not be necessary, but orthodontic monitoring can help anticipate the ideal timeline for the most effective treatment and also help to prevent more serious problems in the future.
Some results of effective early treatment:
Creating space for crowded, erupting teeth
Reducing the risk of injury to protruding front teeth
Preserving needed space for permanent teeth
Reducing future orthodontic treatment time
Benefits Of Early Treatments
Tackling issues early can always save us time, money and prevent a lot of bigger problems down the line. For early treatments, some of the biggest benefits you can get are:
- Determine a better prognosis for how the permanent teeth will develop
- Correct habits that may be the cause of development problems, such as thumbsucking or tongue pushing
- Correct bite problems like an open bite, crossbite, or deep bite
- Guide the growth of the jaw to accommodate emerging teeth
- Lower the risk of damage to any protruding teeth
- Improve your child’s appearance and self-esteem
- Create a more pleasing and functional arrangement of teeth, lips, and face
- Alleviate future, and possibly more invasive, dental correction
Even if your child doesn’t need orthodontic treatment immediately, an orthodontic consultation will uncover how an orthodontist can help your child if future treatment is necessary.