While your child’s teeth may appear to be straight, hidden behind that sweet smile could lie a problem that needs to be evaluated by an orthodontist.
As a preventative orthodontic office, we like to examine the children in our patient’s families by age of seven. Usually, no treatment is necessary. However, in some cases, we can modify growth and development before the sutures of the face are fused and it’s too late at 11-12 years old with headgear.
In other cases, we can expand the upper jaw, again, before the sutures close and gain more bone for teeth to erupt into, limiting the need of extractions in phase II.
In other instances, the front teeth can be jetting out and are at risk for injury. In these cases, we want to bring them back into face and in a more safe position.
For some, baby teeth were extracted early due to decay and before they were ready to fall out naturally. If no space maintainer is placed, the surrounding erupted teeth tip into the open space and can block out the adult tooth that was supposed to replace the decayed baby tooth. It is important to catch this early and regain space before the adult tooth is impacted or we have to extract other adult teeth to get it to erupt.
In the interest of prevention, we are happy to offer all exams and follow-up visits at no charge. At these visits, we will measure height, note shoe size, and take photos and any necessary X-rays.
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