Deciding to Get Braces
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     Deciding to get braces is a BIG DECISION.  Take a good look at yourself.  Thinking about braces means you are thinking about making a change that will effect you for the rest of your life.  Talk to your dentist and an orthodontist.  Most of what you see and hear from friends are about the foods they have to stay away from and their day to day problems.  In order to think about the good side of braces, you need a crystal ball to see into the future. 

     Dentists and orthodontists can't know for sure how your face will change.  But, between their own experience with kids, and the experiences that are part of their education, they can make a very good guess.  If you have a problem with the way your teeth meet each other, orthodontists, and the other dental specialists they work with, can watch the way your face changes over a few years and make changes in the plan for braces to make it all work out in the end.

     Here are some benefits of starting early, when you are a kid, from Dr. Ted Rothstein:

  • Orthodontists can use appliances to intercept jaw growth problems
  • You can improve the way your face and smile looks
  • Reduce or eliminate the need to extract adult teeth
  • Reduce the need for jaw bone surgery at a later date
  • Lower the risk of breaking front teeth that stick out
  • Correct harmful oral habits like thumb sucking and tongue thrusting
  • Help you be less self-conscious of your appearance
  • Simplify and shorten the treatment time for orthodontics
  • Increase the stability of final treatment results
  • Sometimes reduce the likelihood of impacted permanent teeth
  • Improve speech development
  • Improve the position of the first permanent molars
  • Guide the permanent teeth into a better position
  • Improve the ability to get lips together
  • Preserve or gain space for erupting adult teeth
  • Reduce potential damage to the joints that open and close the jaws
  • Avoids the resistance to treatment that teenagers may develop

Duck Profile


 



 

Sometimes Seeing Your Profile Helps You Understand More About Your Bite. Photographs can help you see your profile. Click on the links below to find out more about how to theink about the type of bite you have and what stage you are in for treatment.
California Orthodontic
Society's
Bite Down Early Guide
Dr, Kampas' List of Treatment different States of Dental Development
Chart Showing the Age
When Teeth Come In.
 Chart of Common Bad Bites
Here are Dr. Crews' Early Warning Signs of a Bad Bite:
  • Upper font teeth protrude or are "bucked"
  • Top front teeth cover more than 25% of the bottom front teeth when the back teeth are biting together
  • Top front teeth grow in behind the bottom front teeth
  • A space exists between the top and bottom front teeth with the back teeth biting together
  • Crowded or overlapped teeth or extra teeth
  • Baby teeth are slow falling out
  • The centers of the top and bottom front teeth don't line up
  • Finger sucking habit continuing after six years old
  • Difficulty chewing
  • Teeth wearing unevenly
  • Jaws that shift off center when the teeth bite together
  • Excessive spaces between teeth that persist after the top permanent canine teeth appear
  • Teeth or smile often hidden by hands
Dr. Echols' Advice About When Orthodontic Treatment Should be Started

     When  there are severe deforming problems, then you may wish to start much earlier or do treatment in two stages.  Two stage treatment: treat bone related problems early at age 7-9, and possibly full braces at age 11-12.  However, typically treatment is a one stage affair at age 11-12.  Normally girls should start at age 10 1/2 - 11 and boys start at age 11 to 12 years old.

    AGE SEVEN:  If your child doesn't look like his peers, it may be time to get an opinion from an orthodontist.  Sometimes dentists don't understand the importance of early treatment and will "hold" kids until all of the permanent teeth have erupted.  This is the worst possible answer.

     If there is crowding, two rows of teeth in the lower arch or protrusion of the upper teeth, get an opinion from an orthodontist who understands growth and development.

     If the lower jaw appears retruded, it may be time to see if there is a Class two pattern.

     If there is a crossbite of the front or back teeth, this is an indication to treat early.

AGE ELEVEN:
     This is the more typical time to start orthodontic treatment.  Again, it is not essential that you do not wait on full eruption of the permanent teeth.  The objective is to treat the child during maximum growth and to avoid the extraction of permanent teeth.  This can only be done when the last of the baby teeth remain.

  • If there is peer pressure due to an abnormal appearance or teasing by schoolmates
  • With girls, it is important to start early as they typically mature at least one year earlier than boys.
  • With boys you may have to wait a little later as their growth and development is normally later.  The test is how many baby teeth are left. 
  • You want to begin treatment before the last of the baby teeth are lost.

SOME RISKS OF HAVING BRACES

     Having Braces takes a long time.  After the teeth are moved into the correct position, you need to wear a retainer until your body is finished growing.  During those years there are risks to keep in mind.  To read about some of these risks, click here.

BAD HABITS THAT EFFECT BITES AND BRACES

Tongue Thrusting
Finger and Thumb Sucking

BEFORE AND AFTER PICTURES

     Would you like to see some before and after pictures of people who had braces?  You can see different bad bites, their treatment and the result of treatment by  clicking here .

 
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