Early Orthodontic Treatment

Over the past few years more and more parents have been bringing in their 7-10 year old children for an orthodontic examination. Most often their dentist has referred them but now, more often, the parents have noticed that more and more of their child’s classmates are wearing braces and they want to know “Why?”. “Should my child be starting this early?” Or, “I didn’t get my braces until junior high school, what’s going on?”

While it’s true that we are placing more orthodontic appliances on 7-10 year olds, the benefits of early treatment is on a case-to-case basis and only the more severe problems require actual braces. The primary reason for early treatment is that some dental and jaw discrepancies are much easier to correct when the teeth and jaws are in their most active development stage, 7-10 years of age. Normally it will not eliminate the need for braces when all of the permanent teeth erupt, but it will usually result in a shorter time period with braces and a more ideal result.

The most common appliances that you see have the purposes of making room so that permanent teeth will not require removal to make space for all of the teeth, or widening a narrow upper jaw, or beginning the correction of more severe bite issues or severe malalignment issues that affect the child’s self-image. We can even use new technology from companies like Invisalign to treat certain problems at this early age!

If you have questions about whether or not your child should be seen we are more than happy to conduct a complimentary examination for you. A referral from your child’s dentist is not necessary but we will communicate our findings to you child’s dentist. If we feel that your child is not ready to benefit from treatment we will monitor your child’s dental development on a regular basis until it is the ideal time to intervene.

www.daftandstamos.com

916-441-3925 Sacramento

916-966-1751 Fair Oaks