Did you know that your child may need early orthodontic treatment even though they still have some baby teeth? Known as “interceptive” treatment, the American Association of Orthodontists (AAO) says that a child’s first orthodontic check-up should be done when a problem is initially discovered and definitely no later than age 7. At that age, they will have enough of their adult teeth for our orthodontist to determine if their teeth and jaws are growing as they should.
Our orthodontist will be able to tell if there is a problem needing to be treated. Regular checkups may be recommended while they continue to develop. A good reason to have early treatment is if the problem will only worsen over time. The benefit of starting early treatment, in that case, is having orthodontics correct the problem by guiding the development of their facial and jawbones while ensuring there’s enough space for the emerging adult teeth to come in.
Dental issues that may benefit from early orthodontic treatment:
- Your child has overly crowded teeth
- They have excessively spaced teeth
- They have extra or missing teeth
- They have a crossbite, making the jaw shift to one side
- Your child’s teeth either don’t meet or meet abnormally
- Your child has an underbite where their lower front teeth are in front of the upper front teeth
- Your child has a sucking habit of the thumb, finger or pacifier impacting their teeth and jaw development
Helping your child overcome these problems can be done by wearing a fixed or removable “appliance” that moves their teeth, alters their jaw position, or even just keeps teeth in place so changes can take place. Other times extracting primary teeth can let their adult teeth come in properly by guiding their growth.
Ultimately, timing can be everything, and placing your child’s smile in early orthodontics can solve future problems quickly and more easily. To learn if your child needs early orthodontic treatment, we welcome you to call our pediatric dental team at (805) 985-2400 to schedule a consultation with our orthodontist, Dr. Vikrum Nanda!