There is no age limit on orthodontic treatment. It’s never too late to address crooked teeth or bite issues! However, there are considerable benefits associated with undergoing orthodontic treatment earlier rather than later. Ideally, orthodontic intervention occurs in childhood, between the ages of 9 and 12.
There are many reasons for this, although most of them centre on a simple dental truth: the sooner you address the problem, the better.
Children’s mouths are also far more malleable than your own. Their jawbones, bone tissues, and teeth are still developing, so it’s easier to get their development back on track if something isn’t progressing as it should.
Ultimately, your orthodontist in Mississauga will recommend orthodontic treatment based on your child’s unique case. To do this, they need to visit us at Bristol Dental Clinic. We will evaluate the development of their bones and teeth to determine if early orthodontic intervention is necessary.
Why is early intervention important?
1. Correct issues before they become complex or severe
Young mouths need regular monitoring. Your child’s mouth, including their teeth and bones, changes a lot between infancy and teenage years. The consequences of those changes have a massive impact on their long-term oral health and quality of life. Cavities, tooth loss, speech impediments, reduced confidence, and even breathing problems can all be brought on by early orthodontic issues.
That’s why an orthodontist in Mississauga should be the ones to monitor the development of your child’s mouth to identify and address potential issues before they become more complex or severe.
A proactive approach to oral health is always the best option. Developing issues are easier, faster, and less intensive to correct than fully-fledged problems.
Early orthodontic intervention corrects things like overcrowding, misalignment, and bite issues while your child is young and their mouth is still forming. If you neglect to treat any of these conditions, your child will likely have to undergo extensive (and expensive) treatments later on.
2. Ensures there’s enough room for erupting permanent teeth
Early orthodontic treatment can help ensure there is enough room for your child’s permanent teeth. This prevents overcrowding, and leads to an attractive and straight smile.
Remember, adult teeth are larger than baby teeth, so just because there’s enough space for their baby teeth does not mean they won’t encounter spacing issues.
If there isn’t enough room in your child’s mouth for their forthcoming adult teeth, then you need to make more room. How? Your child’s orthodontist in Mississauga may recommend using palatal expanders to widen the jaw. Guiding the jaw’s growth can create more room and reduce the risk of crowded permanent teeth.
3. Improved bite functionality
The upper and lower jaws and teeth need to fit together properly. When this doesn’t happen, it’s known as malocclusion. Malocclusion, or issues with your child’s bite, can cause discomfort while chewing, speaking, or even breathing in severe cases. It can also lead to temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorder, jaw pain, and other unpleasant conditions.
Early orthodontic treatment can address malocclusion and improve bite functionality, so your child can bite, chew, and speak efficiently. Malocclusion is treated in a variety of ways depending on its severity.
4. Early orthodontic treatment is easier and faster
Your child’s bones are still growing and developing, making it easier to correct orthodontic issues. This provides an optimal window to alter jawbone growth, correct malocclusion, address overcrowding, and guide teeth into the proper positions. Since a child’s jawbone, bone tissues, and teeth are more adaptive, it takes less time to move teeth into the right places.
Conversely, making changes becomes more difficult and time-consuming once their jawbones have fully hardened and adult teeth completely erupted. Some problems, such as bite issues, may require surgery to correct.
5. Prevent oral health issues down the road
Orthodontic issues can lead to a wide array of oral health problems, ranging from straightforward cavities to complicated conditions like TMJ disorders. By taking your child for an orthodontic consultation and starting orthodontic treatment early, you can safeguard their short and long-term oral health.
Crooked, misaligned, and crowded teeth are much harder to clean, which increases your child’s risk for tooth decay and gum disease. There are fewer hard-to-reach places in a smile full of straight and properly aligned teeth.
Brushing and flossing become easier, so teeth are cleaner and less likely to develop cavities. Minor cavities are easy to treat (not that you ever want a cavity), but severe tooth decay can cause a bad infection that necessitates a root canal.
Correcting overcrowding is a much shorter process than battling gum disease, and less intense than a root canal.
6. A beneficial self-esteem boost
Growing up is hard. Children can be mean. Anything you can do to improve your child’s self-confidence and protect them from embarrassment is a good thing. Early orthodontic treatment can give your child a much-needed boost to their self-esteem.
Crooked or misaligned teeth can cause embarrassment, lead to teasing, or make your child hesitant to smile and laugh. By correcting orthodontic issues early on, your child can feel more confident about their appearance. This can help them make friends and excel at school (and, eventually, work).
Do crowded baby teeth lead to crowded adult teeth?
Crowded baby teeth do not automatically mean that your child’s permanent teeth will be crowded, too. After all, your child’s mouth undergoes many changes in the first ten years of their life. However, it’s important that their mouth is properly assessed by an orthodontist in Mississauga.
Adult teeth are, of course, larger than baby teeth. So, if your child’s jaw size is already too small to accommodate all their (much smaller) baby teeth, it can point to future spacing problems once their permanent teeth emerge. Ideally, your child undergoes enough jaw growth to accommodate their upcoming adult teeth. Still, we’ll need to monitor their development closely, just to be sure.
When can your child have orthodontic treatment?
By the time your child is eight or nine years old, all their four upper and four lower adult incisor teeth should have erupted. If these teeth are already crowded, then the issue is unlikely to improve as more of their permanent teeth emerge. This is a clear sign that orthodontic treatment is needed.
At Bristol Dental Clinic, we recommend that children have their initial consultation no later than age 12. Enough of their permanent teeth have erupted (and adequate jaw growth has occurred) at that point to identify problems easily. Nonetheless, you don’t have to wait until your child has all their permanent teeth to assess their mouth or to begin orthodontic treatment.
For example, early orthodontic treatments can start between 6 and 9 years of age. These treatments typically guide the growth of the upper and lower jaw bones to ensure they develop properly.
Bristol Dental Clinic: Mississauga’s Leading Orthodontist
Bristol Dental Clinic offers orthodontic dentistry in Mississauga for patients of all ages, including children. Early intervention is crucial for addressing developing bite and alignment issues, so make sure you and your child come in for an initial consultation by the time they turn 12 years old. Our welcoming and experienced clinic is ready to welcome you!
To book an appointment with an orthodontist in Mississauga, call Bristol Dental Clinic at 866-673-2109 or contact us here.
