Early Orthodontic Treatment

Early diagnosis enables us to show you why your child’s face and jaws are not growing properly, why teeth are or will be crooked, and what can be done to prevent it.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

—Benjamin Franklin

Many orthodontic problems can be prevented!

• 3 out of 4 children develop orthodontic problems such as crooked teeth and incorrectly developing jaws in their growing years.
• These problems are usually evident at 3-4 years of age.
• Parents are routinely told that children have inherited teeth that are too big for their jaws or that one of the jaws grows more than the other one.
• The usual advice is to wait until all adult teeth are in the mouth and then treat with braces and sometimes extractions.
• As many of you have probably experienced, after braces were removed and retainers were not worn, teeth got crooked again.

The Simple Truth About Crooked Teeth

Crooked teeth are a symptom of unfavorable facial growth.

Unfavorable facial growth prevents both jaws and the entire face from growing forward as nature intended. Instead, top and bottom jaws grow down and back. The result is long, narrow faces, flat cheeks, receded chins, and narrow jaws with lack of space for all adult teeth. That is why adult teeth grow in crooked.

Open mouth posture and poor oral habits such as mouth breathing and incorrect swallowing are the major causes of unfavorable facial growth, underdeveloped jaws, and crooked teeth in children.

If these causes are identified and addressed early, many orthodontic problems can be prevented

Benefits of Early Orthodontic Treatment

• If treatment is started early while the child is still growing, unfavorable facial growth can be reversed and brought back to normal growth.
• Better facial balance can be achieved in many cases.
• Improper skeletal relationships and gummy smiles can be corrected at an early age.
• If jaw development is corrected at an early age, permanent teeth will have a better chance of coming in straight, thus decreasing or eliminating entirely the need for braces.
• More forward development of the face will result in a better airway that can prevent or even treat sleep-related breathing problems such as snoring and sleep apnea.

If we wait for all adult teeth to be in the mouth, which usually happens around age 11-12, 90% of facial growth will be completed by then, and the chances to influence the facial growth will be very small. All we would be able to do at this point is just to straighten the crooked teeth with braces. It will require an indefinite retainer wear to keep the teeth from getting crooked again.

• Don’t let your children wait for treatment!
• Don’t wait for your child to have all adult teeth in the mouth! It might be already too late!
• Come see us now to find out if an early orthodontic treatment will be beneficial for your child!