Braces and Invisalign For Kids
Early Treatment for Kids
Dr Kamal Ahmed is a father of three children. Two boys and one girl. They all bring joy and mayhem to his life and ten year career as an orthodontist. Making a decision on what to do is actually simple for Dr Kamal and the South Coast Orthodontics team. The only question Dr Kamal asks himself is: “If my child had the same symptoms and problems, what would I do?”
The problems and solutions vary from child to child, but as his patient, what happens to your child is as important as what would happen to his own children. It’s as simple as that. He will only recommend and conduct procedures that he will do for his own children.
The issue may be narrow jaws, impacted teeth, lack of space, buck teeth, and thumb-sucking amongst many other concerns. As a specialist orthodontist with comprehensive skills, Dr Kamal knows the benefits of early treatment in reducing future orthodontic complications. However, every child is different and must be independently assessed with the sole motivation of putting 100% of the child’s interest at heart.
What age should you consider orthodontics for your child?
Most parents proactively and reactively bring their children to the dentist for regular check ups, niggling pain or emergencies. The Australian Society of Orthodontists and the Australian Dental Association recommends that your child attends their first orthodontics appointment at around 8 years of age.
Why is this important?
Whilst many children won’t require treatment at this early stage, others may. Regrettably, most traumatic and problematic conditions amongst teens and adults could’ve been avoided if solved during childhood. These issues include teen and adult teeth that fail to erupt neatly and naturally. Such teeth need to be surgically exposed or removed during teenage or adulthood, thus leading to greater discomfort and requiring more time and financial outlay. As such, early treatment avoids all said problems by directing your child’s teeth to emerge into the correct position. Also, some children have narrow or underdeveloped jaws. This space limitation leads to the jamming and overcrowding of teeth, consequently reducing the child’s breathing airway. Treating this early creates room for adult teeth to develop eloquently with more space for airflow, thus improving breathing quality.
Early orthodontic treatment and kids’ braces help avoid and minimise future teeth and bite problems. At South Coast Orthodontics, we frequently and expertly treat these problems:
Cross-bites and Under-bites
A neatly aligned jaw is vital for oral health. However, many children are affected by cross-bite, when teeth don’t neatly fit over each other when the mouth is closed. As such, entire groups of lower teeth may fit in front of the top teeth.
Beyond the aesthetic aspects of cross-bites and under-bites, these conditions can lead to rapid tooth decay, sleep apnoea, throat mouth jaw disorders, frequent headaches, speech difficulties, as well as facial, neck and shoulder pain.
Narrow Jaws
Narrow jaws dramatically limit and reduce the space available for teeth to grow and fit optimally. Beyond causing crooked teeth, narrow jaws can create the same problems as cross-bites and under-bites, such as breathing issues, sleep apnoea and headaches, as well as lop-sided jaws and teeth.
To fix narrow jaws, Dr Kamal may use an expander device that slowly and gently widens the upper jaw to its correct dimensions. This creates space, corrects cross-bites, under-bites, and readies the jaw for optimal teenage and adulthood development.
Poor Jaw Alignment
Perfect jaw alignment exists when the upper and lower jaws align into a proper bite. However, if your child’s jaw is misaligned, it can cause pain to the teeth, tongue and gums, leading to chewing and speaking difficulties. Sleep and joint disorders may also develop.
To fix poor jaw alignment, South Coast Orthodontics may apply plates or braces, gradually adjusting your child’s bite through gentle pressure on the teeth and jaws. Additionally, expanders correct narrow jaws by helping grow your child’s jaw into the correct size and shape.
Crowding of the Teeth
Crowding is the lack of space for all the teeth to fit normally within the jaws. The teeth may be squashed, displaced, worn or twisted. This happens when there is disharmony in the tooth to jaw size ratio or when the teeth are larger than the space available. Early treatment prevents major disharmony and oral problems.
Space Maintaining and Regaining
A baby tooth is important for chewing and guiding the eruption of the permanent tooth that replaces it. If a baby tooth is lost too early because of an accident or decay, the teeth beside it may tilt or drift into the empty space. This then causes shifts in other teeth across the mouth, with the adjacent teeth shifting into the empty space, hijacking space for the permanent teeth.
Erupting abnormally in a crowded environment, crooked teeth will develop, requiring extensive future orthodontic treatment. To overcome this challenge, space maintainers may be installed to hold space previously occupied by the missing tooth, avoiding further space loss. At the appropriate age, the spacer will be removed so that the permanent teeth can erupt properly into the mouth. Note that baby teeth are not replaced until a child is around 13 years of age.
Protruded or “Buck” Teeth
“Buck teeth,” commonly called “goofy” or “bunny” teeth at school playgrounds is when the upper teeth stick out more than its lower counterparts. This causes discomfort while eating, difficulty closing lips, speech problems, and over-biting. Additionally, buck teeth can accentuate the appearance of cavities, fracture other teeth, cause breathing problems, chewing problems, gum inflammation, and alter the shape of the face. Buck teeth may derive from genetics or behavioural habits such as thumb-sucking, nail biting, lip biting or the use of pacifiers.
Impacted Canines
We all have two upper canines and two lower canines or “fangs”. They generally have the longest root of all teeth and are the last to fully erupt and fall into place, at around age 13.
An impacted canine means that it is blocked, stuck, or unable to fully erupt and function properly. This may result from genetics, early loss or removal of baby teeth, as well as mismatched size, shape and alignment of teeth.
Canines are critical for closing gaps across all teeth in the mouth. They are also vital for biting, chewing and general oral health and aesthetics. South Coast Orthodontics will ensure that your child’s canine teeth have space to descend and ascend harmoniously to prevent future correctional surgery.
Behavioural Habits
Thumb and finger sucking is normal for children up to 4 years old. However, continuing that behaviour can cause harm with jaw and facial development, teeth positioning and muscle function. It can also impact a child’s posture, breathing and growth of their airways. Chewing and feeding problems will also develop whilst hindering speech development.
Call now
Dr Kamal and the South Coast Orthodontics team are experts at solving behavioural problems affecting the optimal development of children’s teeth. Beyond studying and training with world-leading orthodontists at Sydney University and achieving prestigious exam-based fellowships and memberships from the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and the Edinburgh College of Surgeons, Dr Kamal is a father of three children. This becomes his guiding light when diagnosing and recommending what is best for your child. Optimal solutions today, preventing complicated problems and emergencies in the future.
