Early teeth straightening poll

[Laura Corin]

If your child has visibly crowded, sticking out or uneven teeth, but has no medical reason to straighten them early and has expressed no embarrassment, is it important to get them straightened at around age 8, rather than waiting for the traditional 'when the adult teeth have come in' stage? This is with the understanding that teeth straightened earlier often need more work later. I'm just curious about what the current feeling is.

 

Thanks

 

Laura

[Jennifer in MI]

My orthodontist won't do it (barring a medical reason) until they've lost all/nearly all of their teeth. The bigger adult move the smaller ones so much, I'd be afraid all that work would be undone as the child ages.

 

My oldest had them at 7 due to a cross bite (his lower teeth were chipping his uppers). Off at 8. Back on at 13. Off at 15.

[SJ.]

Our pediatric dentist told me that he will do braces after the first eight teeth come in if a child is having embarrassment/social problems due to crooked teeth or if parents insist. He was very clear that most of the time they are needed again once all permanent teeth finish growing. He personally advises against it. This conversation was sparked by the extreme crowding seen in Bo's x-rays before he lost any teeth. Since then two teeth have come in and one is practically behind all the others. We go back to the dentist in Jan.

[Elinor Everywhere]

My orthodontist won't do it (barring a medical reason) until they've lost all/nearly all of their teeth. The bigger adult move the smaller ones so much, I'd be afraid all that work would be undone as the child ages.

 

My oldest had them at 7 due to a cross bite (his lower teeth were chipping his uppers). Off at 8. Back on at 13. Off at 15.

 

Mine is the same. And it's true - my dd's teeth moved quite a bit when all her adult teeth came in. Her gap almost completely closed, and one of her upper teeth actually straightened out. She has braces now (got them at 13), but she only needs them for 10 months.

[LisaKinVA]

I'm not against early intervention if it's warranted... for example: to fix a cross-bite, expand a palate, or pull teeth to make room for teeth to come in, or straighten on their own.

 

A good orthodontist will tell you what is needed and why, and what will help you (or not matter) down the road.

[LaxMom]

Mine is the same. And it's true - my dd's teeth moved quite a bit when all her adult teeth came in. Her gap almost completely closed, and one of her upper teeth actually straightened out. She has braces now (got them at 13), but she only needs them for 10 months.

 

This was our experience with my eldest daughter. She got them at about the same age, after her adult teeth had moved everything around, and she needed comparatively little correction.

[Starr]

Ortho waited for ds since ds wasn't concerned about how his teeth looked. :D His jaw grew quite a bit by the time he was a teen and the braces were put on.

[Lawana]

I voted earlier, because in our experience, both kids have needed 2 sets of braces anyway. Ds would have lost a permanent tooth without early intervention. Dd had a central incisor coming in very high, and it stuck out considerably, to the point other kids noticed and commented. Since she also had a very narrow mouth, we combined straightening her 4 upper incisors with a palate expander.

[Lovin Learnin]

My dd will be 11 soon and has only lost 5 teeth so far. At this point it looks like she will need braces but we will happily wait (a good while longer, I'm sure) for all of her adult teeth to come in.

[HS Mom in NC]

Our chiro has a lot to say about striaghtening earilier vs. later. Earlier leads to more TMJ problems according to him. I think earlier is still in the "experimental" phase.

[sparrow]

My orthodontist won't do it (barring a medical reason) until they've lost all/nearly all of their teeth. The bigger adult move the smaller ones so much, I'd be afraid all that work would be undone as the child ages.

 

My oldest had them at 7 due to a cross bite (his lower teeth were chipping his uppers). Off at 8. Back on at 13. Off at 15.

 

 

Exact same situation here (including the chipping teeth :tongue_smilie:). My son was 8 when he first got braces and will be getting his phase II braces on in December.

 

OTOH, my daughter will be 10 next week and our orthodontist has been watching her since she was 7. She has a significant overbite, but slow to erupt teeth.

Edited November 4, 2011 by sparrow

[Jennifer in MI]

Exact same situation here (including the chipping teeth :tongue_smilie:). My son was 8 when he first got braces and will be getting his phase II braces on in December.

 

OTOH, my daughter will be 10 next month and our orthodontist has been watching her since she was 7. She has a significant overbite, but slow to erupt teeth.

 

Oh man. I hope you don't get two in braces at once! LOL My 15 yo had his taken off and two months later, the 13 yo got his on. My 11 yo has been seeing the ortho since he was 7 and he just keeps waiting for him to lose teeth. I keep hoping he keeps them in until the 13 yo gets them off! LOL

[Karen in CO]

Our pediatric dentist, doctor, and orthodontist all told us that my dd would need more space for her adult teeth to come in but to wait until her adult canines had erupted to do the work. We'll see how it turns out. She was in pain from the teeth moving around trying to find space. She'll have to wear a retainer until she's old enough for her bones to firm up. I had a crowded mouth and had to have permanent teeth moved to make space for straightening. I know people who've waited and had ortho's recommend breaking the jaw to make room. We didn't want to risk that.

 

I'd not put braces on an 8 year old, but when the canine teeth are in, evaluate the position of the teeth and the size of the permanent teeth then decide with more than one professional opinion if you're concerned.

[Ginevra]

Hardly any young children have teeth that look "beautiful," even if they will have correct teeth later on. I have only ever seen one young child whose teeth looked severely, astoundingly bad and I'm tending to think an orthodontist would have recommended early correction in that case.

[sparrow]

Oh man. I hope you don't get two in braces at once! LOL My 15 yo had his taken off and two months later, the 13 yo got his on. My 11 yo has been seeing the ortho since he was 7 and he just keeps waiting for him to lose teeth. I keep hoping he keeps them in until the 13 yo gets them off! LOL

 

Oh, I know! We've been so grateful for her slow to erupt teeth, but we could be cutting it close now. If they say she's ready, I may ask them to wait to put hers on until next summer. Payments for our son's braces will be done at that point :hurray:.

[lucyfan70]

I don't know if I would do them because of anything but pure neccessity. That is what we did. Our oldes had them put on at 9 because of a tooth that had not come in yet was turned sideways. it was actually laying on the tooth's root beside of it; in turn killing the tooth. We decided to go ahead and fix it. We used the Damien system which is less painful than traditional braces. Within a year the tooth that had not come in yet had turned and now is ready to come in without killing any other teeth.

[missmoe]

If it is not medically needed, you are under no obligation to ever do it!

[kitten18]

I would generally say straighten them later.

My DD's friend (8) did just have braces put on her top front teeth because 1 was sticking out at an angle and mom and ortho were afraid the tooth could be damaged too easily in a fall or accident.

[Nan in Mass]

My husband has a small jaw. As a teenager, he had many adult teeth pulled to make room for the ones that were left and braces. His teeth are ok now. They would be better if he had worn a retainer for longer. I never had braces. My teeth are pretty straight. We could easily tell early on which of our children inherited my jaw and which my husbands. The ones that inherited my husband's jaw got to keep all their adult teeth when they came in because the dentist sent them off to the orthodontist early and she used various pallette expanders and things to alter their bones so there would be room for the rest of their adult teeth to come in. My children are slow in that department. Then she sent them off to wait for their adult teeth to come in. The oldest had various retainers at that point, but no braces, despite having my husband's face. The youngest has had a series of braces. The middle one had nothing (my face). She checked him for free all through his childhood and said if he wanted absolutely cosmetically perfect teeth, she could put braces on him, but that he'd look ok without them. (We chose not.) So - I am a believer in whatever she did early on. It worked.

 

Nan

[Rhonda in TX]

Our orthodontist waits, for which I'm glad. DD's teeth were ready earlier than DS's, so she's already had them and she's done. DS will start next year.

[ReneTL]

I voted for straighten them early, but I would like to clarify that I would follow the recommendation of a reputable orthodontist. My daughter had early braces and it has made a world of difference in her appearance. However, the most important reason for doing it (on the ortho's recommendation) was that it fixed a problem that could only be fixed earlier (cross-bite). She may have to go back into braces, but there is a chance she won't. At any rate, if she does, it will be an easy go of it.

 

Just make sure it is a reputable orthodontist.

 

Peace,

Rene

[Donna]

My ds(16 in a few weeks) had a palate expander early on at 9yo, I think, but his ortho would not put on braces until just this past summer when he had lost all but one last baby tooth (which was pulled because the adult tooth was impacted behind his other adult teeth...must be genetic because I had to have 3 teeth pulled down with chains on braces at 32yo).

[datgh]

My son had very badly crowded teeth. When we took him in to be evaluated, the ortho said we could start early but do it in two phases or wait until my son was older and do it all in one shot. He recommended waiting because from his experience the kids took good care of their teeth the first time around and not at all the second. I know after going through wearing braces once they where off I would have fought not to have them put back on. Once was enough for me.

 

I will also add from our experience that the younger they are the harder time they have coping with the pain. I learned this the hard way with the first who we waited to start until he was ten. If I had to do it over again I would have waited another year or so. We waited until our second one was 12 and it made a world of difference because of the greater maturity level. We also waited because we wanted the kids to be old enough to take responsiblility for the care of their teeth not only their brushing but in having to wear retainers, elastics or head gear.

 

My vote is to wait if there isn't a major issue that would warrant doing it early. It will make life easier for you and for your child.

[Beth S]

I haven't read the other posts, but two of our 5 have need of braces.

 

DD had an underbite corrected by braces at age 8 1/2.

DS has very crooked bottom front teeth, but we are waiting through puberty to see if his jar grows enough to give a bit more space.

 

If you have a cooperative kid, I would wait. But everyone has unique circumstances.

[sparrow]

I'm seeing a pattern that nearly all of us that had children with early braces were dealing with cross-bite/underbite.

[Jilly]

For extreme teeth issues I would get the work done early.

 

I waited until this year for my daughter to get braces. Honestly I had to wait because of finances, but if I didn't I would have done it earlier. The last year or so she was becoming very self conscious about her teeth, and other kids asked her about her teeth all the time. Her younger brother has the same problem she has, and the ortho recommended early intervention. I have the money now, so he is having work done at the same time she is.

 

They have severe crowding and a large overbite. Both of them are wearing partial braces, an expander, and a herbst appliance. It isn't fun, but the improvement has been amazing. My daughter feels so much better, and she is happy her brother is getting the work done while he is young. She doesn't want him to ever feel self conscious.

[HappyGrace]

We went for early treatment-just started w/ ds8. Slight crossbite, severe crowding, large overbite (his front teeth completely cover his bottom teeth when he bites down). Palate expander and four braces on top, six on bottom-they're not to straighten but to push teeth either apart or together to make room for others to come in (he has teeth on top that the baby teeth came out a year ago and the adult teeth don't have room to come down).

 

I still am waffling, hoping this Phase 1 treatment isn't overkill. But I'm hoping it's better safe than sorry! Just choosing to trust our ortho (plus our dentist told us all the same stuff about his teeth, etc.)

 

I would NOT have done it strictly for appearance sake though unless it was really obvious and terribly upsetting to the child.

[bbsweetpea]

My oldest is just now starting phase 1 and she is 8 1/2. She has several issues. Cross bite, huge underbite, big teeth, overcrowding, narrow palate (top and bottom), and receding gums on bottom jaw. Our orthodontist is almost puzzled at what to do and she is the best in the area. We are getting her expander for the upper palate put in next week. After 6-9 months of that the Orthodontist is thinking about putting braces on the upper top four teeth because the two front are almost sideways. She thinks this might help the others straighten out on their own and the lower jaw fall in line. Regular braces will not come on until she has loss all her baby teeth.

 

My daughter already had 4 baby teeth pulled to see if this would help and it only encouraged more baby teeth to come out. I am PRAYING we don't have these issues with my other two children.

 

My oldest also has almost no enamel on her front two adult teeth. She will eventually have to get them capped. This is something she was born with and has always had since these two teeth came in. Our dentist said it is rare to only see it on two teeth but so far the other adult teeth have enamel.

 

My answer is ... start early for orthodontic work.

[walkermamaof4]

Our orthodontist is a Harvard grad. Somehow that makes me trust him. He said he likes to see all kids at age 7 because so many need to do something at that age to affect their bone structure to allow for their teeth to come in properly. He put my ds8 in headgear at night. If I understood correctly, the alternative is to wait but have to pull teeth later. His goal is to not have to pull teeth since the removal of teeth leads to greater teeth shifting later. I think that is right. Anyway, I was glad to get started when he wanted to. But 3 kids in braces at once is not easy and not cheap!!!

[Ali in OR]

I voted other. I plan to follow a trusted, conservative orthodontist's advice. My youngest dd will have just turned 9 when she gets her headgear in January. It's going to be an easy problem to treat now when she is still growing (her lower jaw is shorter than the upper jaw). The ortho gave us the choice as to whether or not to pull in her upper 4 teeth now as part of Phase I. He said she will 100% absolutely have to have braces later to fix her bite and the upper teeth could be pulled in then. He said the angle at which they protrude is borderline as to whether they have to be treated now. We've elected to do that now because she is active in sports and I would hate to see her teeth break. But I don't think I generally have a philosophy that braces must be early. There are going to be cases where it's the best way to fix the mouth correctly. I would guess that most cases do not need to be treated early and then it would make sense to do braces once when the baby teeth are out. My 11 yo still may need braces, but there is no problem that needs to be addressed early for her and no decision will be made until she gets her permanent teeth.

[redsquirrel]

my son had his braces on at 9. When the dentist referred us to the ortho he told us the ortho would either "tell us to start right away or come back when he is 14." The ortho asked us to start right way.

 

In many ways it has been easier starting with a younger child. I had much more control over what he ate, when he brushed etc. There is some hard core oral hygiene with braces. They must brush after eating (or at least 3 times a day) a daily flossing, regular rinsing etc after eating, many foods must be avoided etc. All of this was much better accepted by a younger child. Now, that my son is 11, and we are ending the braces time of his life, I can already see how it would be more difficult to start now. His life is different. He is much more likely to be eating meals that I don't see, be in charge of his own hygiene etc. Now, I find myself wondering if he brushed at all during the day. When he was 9 I was more involved.

 

My son did have an underbite and his lower teeth were all sort of shifted over by two places, if that makes sense. Mostly, I noticed his front teeth. They were sticking out so far that he was heading towards horizontal.

 

Now, I cannot speak to needing work later on. I have to admit that I worry about that as well. But, I know plenty of people who had braces as older teenagers who say that their teeth shifted after their braces came off. My husband is one. My sister is another. So, I guess I just accept that some natural 'settling' will occur after the braces come off and hope for the best. No matter what, it will be better than if he had never had braces at all.

[mamato3 all-boy boys]

My husband has a small jaw. As a teenager, he had many adult teeth pulled to make room for the ones that were left and braces.... The ones that inherited my husband's jaw got to keep all their adult teeth when they came in because the dentist sent them off to the orthodontist early and she used various pallette expanders and things to alter their bones so there would be room for the rest of their adult teeth to come in. My children are slow in that department. Then she sent them off to wait for their adult teeth to come in. The oldest had various retainers at that point, but no braces, despite having my husband's face.... She checked him for free all through his childhood...

Nan

 

Wow, we must have the same ortho! The quotes I pulled out have been our experience so far.

 

DS#1 has gone through the palatal expander and is in a holding pattern right now, but it looks like he will have minimal if any braces work as a teen when he's lost the rest of his teeth. We're now going for annual checks with DS#2 to see when/if he'll need braces. DS#3, well, he has the smallest mouth of them all (very crowded baby teeth), so I'm assuming it's a given he'll need early braces. We apparently lose teeth late here, so DS1 didn't start his palatal work until he was 10.

[KidsHappen]

I had one child that had severe bite issue that needed to be fixed at an early age (5?) and then she will need to go through a regular set probably next year. Two other children started at about age 13. One child chose not to get braces at all.

[Laura Corin]

I was curious because there was a suggestion in another thread that leaving children with wonky teeth until their teens was starting to be less socially acceptable in the US. Having seen 'Calvin' go through braces, I'm glad he only had to do it once - it was irritating and intermittently sore.

 

Laura

[coffeefreak]

It would be an absolute waste of money to do it early with no other medical/growth plate reason. With our youngest, we have no choice. She HAD to have a pallet expander. She will have to have braces to hold the spaces open because her permanent teeth will not come in without the space. once the teeth start coming in, we'll have to remove the braces, let them finish coming in, and then put the braces back on to hold the form. UGH! By the time we're done, we'll have put the equivalent cost of a used car in her mouth. Why would you do that twice? The torture of the braces and appliances, not to mention the trips back and forth to the orthodontist.

 

I guess you know how I voted. NO! Wait until you absolutely have to! It's not worth it!

Dorinda

[coffeefreak]

 

Now, I cannot speak to needing work later on. I have to admit that I worry about that as well. But, I know plenty of people who had braces as older teenagers who say that their teeth shifted after their braces came off. My husband is one. My sister is another. So, I guess I just accept that some natural 'settling' will occur after the braces come off and hope for the best. No matter what, it will be better than if he had never had braces at all.

 

Our ortho does permanent retainers on the bottom teeth of all his patients. It's totally worth it. I have one and I don't have to wear a top retainer but once or twice a week because the bottom teeth hold the top ones stable. I used a different ortho for my braces and immediately my teeth started shifting. I wore my retainers every night and they would be loose during the day because they refused to stay in place. After doing the research, I asked for a permanent retainer and he refused. I switched Drs and it has made a WORLD of difference! Our faces change into old age so his teeth WILL shift. I would highly recommend you look into a permanent one for your son.:001_smile:

Blessings!

Dorinda

[FaithManor]

We went later with dd. I am soooooo glad we did. When she was young they wanted to send her to an orthodontic surgeon to have teeth removed that hadn't erupted, that they were just certain would never come down on their own, etc. We weren't comfortable with that and I wondered about her being responsible for extra gum and tooth care, handling the pain, rubber bands, the whole thing. So many parents of younger patients had reported to me that it was crazy for them to keep on their kids about the details because they aren't mature enough to handle it.

 

She was 15 when we decided to address the issue. She was mature, only needed two teeth pulled, the ones they had said needed to be carved out, had all come in on their own, and she was very mature about caring for her teeth and gums, wearing her rubberbands, etc. Everything was aligned and the bite problem solved in 22 months. The original estimate at 11 was palette expander for several months, oral surgery, and braces for 28-32 months. I am very glad we waited.

 

I have a 13 year old that the orthodontist has been desperate to get in the chair since he was 9. Unfortunately, said boy was not mature enough to deal with it which would leave me to have to force the issue, something I am not fond of when it doesn't have a significant health benefit in the near future. So, we are slowly seeing signs that he is getting ready. But, we are only 23 months from being debt free. We'll be able to pay cash and get the 15% discount for doing so, instead of making payments. So, we've decided to wait until 15 because he'll be that much more mature and we'll be in a better financial position.

 

Now, had I been provided with a truly compelling reason to do it sooner, we would have. However, when you get estimates from three different orthos and when pressed, all they can come up with is fuzzy, non-medical, "I just prefer it this way", reasons for having to do it young and not one good, verifiable medical reason to do so....hmmmm....this critical thinking mom is not convinced. But, my cousin...oh boy, yep...big mess, many years of care needed, definitely best to get it done sooner than later...no one needs to be seeing the ortho every other week during COLLEGE if it can be avoided.

 

Dd still sleeps with her retainer. Dh's teeth moved back on the bottoms after wearing his retainer for two years and being told by his ortho that he wouldn't need to anymore. When I confronted ortho about the necessity of this, he admitted that some people have stubborn gums and this is not as related to the age at which teeth were moved as they'd like you to think - it's more of a genetic thing - and about 20% of patients will have their teeth move back (not as bad as before treatment but definitely quite noticeable) if they do not wear their retainers for most of their adult life...for many, just a few hrs. per day will solve the issue...hence the sleeping in her retainer just in case she inherited her dad's gums.

 

There is a new bracket out there, starts with a "d" and I can't remember the name but I've seen it, and it's pretty revolutionary technology. It is self tightening, no rubber bands, far fewer ortho appointments needed. The nearest ortho trained in it's use is 60 minutes from here. We have high hopes that by the time we are ready to begin with ds, the closer orthos will be using it. Also, because it is self-tightening and gradual, there is less soreness involved with the procedure. That's a win-win to me!

 

Faith

Edited November 4, 2011 by FaithManor
let something out

[Liza Lee]

I'm not against early intervention if it's warranted... for example: to fix a cross-bite, expand a palate, or pull teeth to make room for teeth to come in, or straighten on their own.

 

A good orthodontist will tell you what is needed and why, and what will help you (or not matter) down the road.

 

This.

 

Several of my kids had early intervention. We had teeth pulled, a palate expander, a space maintainer because a baby molar was lost early, and an appliance to stop a child from sucking her thumb.

 

But not BRACES until they had adult teeth. My orthodontist said it's a waste of money.