Children’s Orthodontics – Don’t Leave It Too Late
Thinking about your child and whether they might need orthodontic treatment at some point in life? You can have come to the right place. This article explains when orthodontic treatment is required for some children and why it is better to seek early orthodontic treatment for your child.
NHS Orthodontics Braces Treatment
According to the British Orthodontic Society, over 200,000 children and teens in England and Wales undergo orthodontic treatment through the NHS every year. More importantly, an increasing number of parents and orthodontic patients nowadays prefer to get orthodontic treatment done through a private dental practitioner.
“NHS treatment is cost-effective. Then why would people prefer to go to a private dentist for their treatment?” you might ask. The answer is that despite being cost-effective, there is a long queue for orthodontic treatment at the NHS.
Furthermore, an NHS general dentist or orthodontist will only start your child’s treatment once all the teeth have come out, which generally happens during the teenage years.
Modern orthodontics nowadays focuses on “prevention” instead of intervention later in life. The American Association of Orthodontists recommends taking your child for their first visit to the orthodontist no later than their seventh birthday, sometimes earlier. This will ensure that the orthodontist can diagnose developing orthodontic problems earlier in life and treat them before requiring advanced orthodontic treatment.
Dental Orthodontic Problems To Watch Out For
As parents, we must be on the lookout for any bad bite problems that affect the alignment of your child’s teeth and jaws. Some of the common orthodontic problems that may require orthodontic treatment include:
- Open Bite – this is a condition in which the upper and lower front teeth do not matter together when the mouth is closed.
- Anterior Crossbite – this occurs when the upper front teeth are placed backwards compared with the lower ones.
- Class III malocclusion – this is a condition in which the lower jaw protrudes excessively forwardly, compared to its upper counterpart.
- Crowding – this problem occurs when there is insufficient space for all the to align themselves optimally in the upper or lower jaw.
- Diastema – this is a condition where there is an excessive gap between the adjacent teeth.
- Deep Bite – this occurs when the upper front teeth excessively overlap the lower front ones vertically.
What Is The Best Age To Get Braces For A Child?
It is advisable to take your child to an orthodontist as soon as their start to erupt. In this way, your child’s orthodontist will be able to follow the developmental pattern of your child closely and diagnose any abnormality well before it can create a problem in the future.
However, if braces are still needed, the best age for them for your kid is between the age of 5-10. Your orthodontist will suggest the best time for your child when to wear braces, Invisalign First is a great example of this.
Invisalign teen can fit beautifully into a teenager’s life. Teenagers can sometimes have the same treatment as adults but some teenagers are better suited to having a modified Invisalign treatment, such as Invisalign teen
Types Of Braces For Kids Teeth
There are different braces types available to treat orthodontic problems in kids.
- Myo-functional trainers
- Removable braces
- Removable functional braces
- Partial fixed braces
- Habit breaker braces
- Space maintainer
Besides these, orthodontics also use various removable appliances called functional appliances, which harness your child’s growth spurt to redirect jaw growth for achieving optimal facial aesthetics and tooth alignment.
Why Would You Put Braces On Baby Teeth?
As per modern dentistry, it is better to start your child’s orthodontic care earlier in life than wait for them to become teenagers. Contemporary research suggests that most orthodontic problems can be simply avoided if they are taken care of during the early years.
This had lead to the development of “preventive orthodontics”. In this field, Specialist oOrthodontist use removable appliances or braces in kids to treat orthodontic problems during their initial stages. As a result, most of them do not require any treatment later in life.
Do All Of Your Teeth Have To Fall Out Before You Can Get Braces?
Fixed dental braces are attached to the front surfaces of the teeth. Each orthodontic bracket contains a slot through which the orthodontic wire passes and is attached to the bracket using rubber ties.
The bracket itself is bonded to the tooth using a special adhesive. Therefore, it is necessary to have all your permanent teeth in place for undergoing orthodontic treatment with fixed baces.
However, with removable appliances it’s not necessary to have all of the teeth falling out before appliances can be used.
Tooth Eruption Timetable
Humans have two sets of teeth; the primary and the permanent ones. There are twenty primary teeth and thirty-two permanent teeth in humans. Your child’s front four teeth – two lower and two upper – are typically the first ones to erupt, usually when they are about six months old. Afterwards, teeth continue to erupt, and the jaws continue to grow in size up till six years of age.
Around 6-7 years of age, your child will begin to shed their milk teeth, while their permanent successors will start appearing. This process continues till they are about twelve years old. The last teeth to erupt in the oral cavity are the wisdom teeth, or the third molars, which erupt at the back of the mouth and jaws – anywhere between 17-21 years of age.
Your child’s milk teeth are very precious. They will teach your child how to eat and speak and ensure that their permanent successors erupt in optimal alignment.
Therefore, you must look after your child’s milk teeth just like the permanent ones. If you live in Winsdor or Guildford, then Smile101 is the best place to ensure that they have perfectly aligned, pearly-white teeth, free of tooth decay. So, book a virtual consultation today and let your child enjoy perfect oral and physical health.