Pediatric orthodontics deals with braces and Invisalign in children. It deals with teeth alignment problems for children aged 7-10 years.
There are several factors contributing for this mis-alignment of teeth in children including:
- Genetic factors
- Cavities followed by loss or extraction of teeth
- Damaging oral habits like thumb sucking.
Why early orthodontic treatment?
- Reduced risk of developing cavities where crowding is present, hence making cleaning difficult.
- Reduced risk of impacted adult teeth
- Reduced risk of tooth grinding (bruxism)
- Reduced risk of speech problems
- Allows proper jaw growth
When exactly can orthodontic treatment in children can begin?
- During early orthodontic treatment phase, your pediatric dentist works with parents and children to prevent developing habits such as thumb sucking or tongue thrusting etc.
- The goals of mixed dentition phase ( presence of both milk teeth and permanent teeth) are realignment of unruly jaws and straightening of misaligned permanent teeth.
- Next comes the adolescent stage which aims at improvement of smile by correcting malformed permanent teeth and space issues by the use of braces.
