Tomorrow’s smile depends on the dental care your kid gets today

Are you considering pre-orthodontics for your kid? Taking your kid to see a dentist early can prevent future problems and avoid surgery.

You already know the importance of taking your kid to the dentist and teaching them a good brushing and flossing habits early on. But you may not know that early visits to our pre-orthodontic dentists to review the development of a kid’s mouth and jaw can be just as helpful to their health and to your wallet.

Pre-orthodontic treatment aims to correct more serious bite related problems (malocclusions) as well as guide the jaw’s growth pattern.

Problems like overbites, underbites, jaw and tooth size, extra or missing teeth and improper jaw growth can lead to serious dental problems down the road. Harmful oral habits like thumb sucking, tongue thrusting, and mouth breathing can also lead to serious health problems.

Pre-orthodontics can treat poor oral habits and provide solutions to problems that may have been more about ‘watching and waiting’. Ultimately, pre-orthodontics does more than make a perfect smile – it creates a healthier kid.

To learn more about how a pre-orthodontic assessment might benefit your kid, arrange a complimentary consultation by contacting the KIDS Mackay team.

Gone are the days of “watch and wait.” Addressing your children’s dental issues when they’re younger can reduce the amount of time they spend in dental treatment down the track.

We recommend that every kid has an evaluation at around the age of 7 while their jaw is still growing. This allows us to evaluate your kid’s existing and incoming teeth and determine whether early treatment might be necessary.  At this early age, pre-orthodontic treatment may not be necessary, but vigilant examination can anticipate the most ideal time to begin treatment for children that need it.

Regular visits to the dentists will enable you to keep track of your kid’s jaw and facial development. Once your kid reaches seven years of age; whether or not they show signs of needing pre-orthodontic care, you should schedule an appointment with us. We can then discuss with you the most appropriate treatment options and the best time to start treatment if it is required.

In the meantime, here are some signs to watch out for:

  • Early or delayed loss of baby teeth
  • Difficulty chewing and/or biting
  • Mouth breathing
  • Thumb sucking after age five
  • Speech impediment
  • Protruding teeth
  • Shifting of the jaw when your kid opens or closes the mouth (crossbite)
  • Crowded front teeth around age seven

Early detection and treatment of your kid’s pre-orthodontic problems can mean the difference between a minimally invasive procedure now and complex surgery later.

When it’s done at the right time, pre-orthodontic treatment offers results that would be difficult or impossible to achieve at an older age without using more complex or invasive methods — for example, tooth extraction or jaw surgery.

Early treatment may give us the chance to:

  • Guide jaw growth and permanent teeth into a more favourable position
  • Lower the risk of trauma to protruded front teeth
  • Correct harmful oral habits
  • Improve facial appearance

By addressing the underlying causes of poorly developing jaws, rather than waiting to mechanically straighten teeth with braces, Dr Hany and his team of highly trained and dedicated staff can focus on delivering effective early preventative pre-orthodontic treatment. Here are some of the treatments we commonly use:

Myobrace: Myobrace therapy is used to help correct underlying functional problems that cause crooked teeth and bad bites. More than just straightening the teeth, we can often improve airway function, and positioning of the jaw; tongue; and soft tissue surrounding the mouth.

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Aligners: An orthodontic aligner (or commonly known as Invisalign) treatment is a series of simple device (like retainers) that helps to correct your kids dental alignment.

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Appliances: Various appliances (fixed or removable) are an effective tool for expanding the width and length of the jaws to accommodate the development of all your kid’s teeth, improve their bite and also to break habits.
Expansion appliances has several other benefits too, including opening up the nasal passages for better breathing and sleep, minimise crowding and need for complex and lengthy treatment at a later stage.

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Orofacial Myology: Underdevelopment of the jaw, a narrow palate and issues with tooth alignment, are directly related to muscle behaviour. The good news is, we can have a significant impact on all these things by working with children early on.

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