Orthodontist question

[saw]

DS 7 has very crooked teeth already and who knows where the teeth that are yet to come in will fit. I have taken him to the orthodontist, who gave us a T4K trainer -- it's a plastic mouthguard. It wasn't molded to DS's teeth, just off the shelf. Are these common? I cannot find any independent research online on their effectiveness, and I've never heard of these from anyone.

 

Around here it's unheard of to have a 7 yo at the ortho, so I had to do a lot of pushing to get the appointment in the first place, and the ortho made it clear that he doesn't want to do much of anything for DS. It seems to me that kids in the US are receiving treatment at 7 or 8, is that right? Anyone have experience with young children and orthodontics or trainer-like objects (that are supposed to be worn all night long even though they fall out)? I'm definitely making an appt with a US ortho for our next visit to the States, but that might be a while off. Any advice is welcome. Thanks.

 

SAW

[Punkinelly]

Our ortho would not do anything until certain molars were in. I think they wait until a particular amount of facial growth has been completed, too.

[LisaKinVA]

My almost 7yo daughter will be starting ortho treatment this year due large teeth/small jaw. She will be put into both an upper and lower pallette expander, which will help her jaw grow to accept her teeth (currently, she loses 4 to gain 2... or some teeth come in behind the others... overlapping, sideways, etc.) In a great number of cases, using the pallete expander will allow the teeth to straighten out substantially on their own, and will reduce ortho procedures needed later.

 

There are still some orthos out there who prefer to wait and pull 4+ adult molars (usually either the 2 or 6yo ones), then put into braces, etc. (This is how things have been done in the past, and how two of my brothers were treated 20+ years ago).

 

You usually have to make some phone calls to inquire regarding the ortho's philosophy on these matters. It may also depend upon the severity of the situation.

 

My oldest has an extremely mild case, and so the treatment plan for him is to wait.

[PamJH]

My son had his put in almost 2.5 years ago, when he was 11. He had an upper palate expander and a full set of braces complete with a series of rubber bands. He should be getting them out this month.

 

 

Anyway, his ortho said he wouldn't have done anything sooner because of facial growth, just like a previous poster said. He also wanted to wait until as many baby teeth as possible fell out. And if they didn't fall out by the specified time, they would be pulled.

 

Age 7 is very young, I think. Sometimes there is a degree of discomfort that even older children find difficult to deal with. I'm not sure how a 7-year-old would handle the discomfort, put on her own rubber bands, etc.

[Suzanne in ABQ]

Our dd had a T4K trainer at age 7. It wasn't just for her teeth though. They had problems, but she also had mouth breathing problems, and related swallowing (tongue thrusting) problems. Her tongue problems were contributing to her tooth alignment problems. The pediatric dentist/orthodontist was hoping that the trainer would help with all of this. It did help with some of the tooth problems. But, I was supposed to do certain exercises with her, using the trainer to help he learn to swallow properly. I didn't hardly ever do it, so we didn't have the hoped-for results wrt the tongue thrusting problems.

 

I'm not sorry we used the trainer with her, but it didn't prevent further intervention (in fairness, the trainer was just "Phase I" of a three phase process outlined by the orthodontist. We moved from that place, and she had her second phase (a palette expander and braces) at age 11. We're still waiting for one stubborn canine to show itself (she has a huge gap in her smile, and the other teeth are always trying to move over to close the space), and for the rest of her molars to come in, but we fully expect another set of braces in her future.

 

I'm glad the ortho didn't want to do braces in Phase I. It would have been much more expensive than the trainer, and we still would have had the missing-canine problem. I'd suggest using the trainer, and waiting. It might prevent further problems as it gently coaxes new teeth into proper alignment, and it might make your ds's next phase of orthodontia less extensive.

[LaxMom]

Disclaimer: This is only my experience

 

My oldest daughter had horribly crooked teeth at that age. Really, really crooked. Aside from what our dentist described at "the family overbite", though, she did not have any other problems. My ex-husband started pressuring about braces when she was 8 or 9.

 

I opted to wait until she was older. Getting her full complement of adult teeth helped to align everything a great deal. She ended up having braces, at 14, for about 18 months. She was getting hers off about the same time as friends who had had braces for several years.

 

As an aside, we also consulted with a maxillo-facial surgeon who was aghast that I would not sign on to break her jaw and extend it with metal plates for purely cosmetic reasons. Aghast. He actually implied that I was not a good mother... something along the lines of not understanding a mother who did not want the "best" for her child. :glare: Evidently, by 16 we should have all surgical cosmetic enhancements available.

 

Anyway, if there isn't an oral health related problem (like a teeth/jaw discrepancy), I would let time and nature take care of it, as far as they can. It's free and painless. ;)

[Ria]

Kids receiving orthodontic treatment at a young age usually have jaw/bite issues that *must* be treated immediately or have mouths too small to accomodate their full complement of adult teeth. I've had kids with both problems. One son had what is called an "open bite" which can lead to real problems is untreated; he was fitted with a retainer at age 9, his bite slowly improved, and now, at 14, he's fine. Another of my sons simply will not have room for all his permanant teeth - even a palate expander would not be enough - so he had to undergo serial extraction (over the course of 3 years he had 8 baby teeth and 4 permanent teeth removed...the teeth were pulled in a certain order to make the 4 permanent teeth come in sooner than they normally would so that they could be pulled). He started this treatment at age 8 and finished at age 11.

 

I've never heard of a child being treated for crooked teeth before the permanent teeth were in. Serious bite issues and major overcrowing issues can be helped when the kids are young, though.

 

Ria

[Punkinelly]

I neglected to add that when we got close to the time that dd had almost all of her adult teeth, the ortho gave her the palate expander. Her mouth was too small to accommodate all of the adult teeth that would be coming in.

[rafiki]

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[GailV]

Kids receiving orthodontic treatment at a young age usually have jaw/bite issues that *must* be treated immediately or have mouths too small to accomodate their full complement of adult teeth.

 

<snip>

 

I've never heard of a child being treated for crooked teeth before the permanent teeth were in. Serious bite issues and major overcrowing issues can be helped when the kids are young, though.

 

Ria

 

This was our experience, too. Dd had a crossbite, because of which she got a palate expander. The palate expander had the additional benefit of, well, expanding her palate, giving her lower teeth more room to enter. Before the expander was put in she had some baby teeth shaved to give her permanent molars room to enter so the expander could be hooked onto the permanent teeth.

 

The palate expander was on for a few months when she was 8. Her actual braces were for 16 months starting at age 13 -- no extractions (for the record, a different orthodontist had estimated at least 3 years of braces and 90% chance of 4 teeth needing to be extracted -- it was really eye-opening to shop around for opinions).

[buddhabelly]

I just checked the contract to make sure. He was barely 8 when he got the palate expander, which he wore for maybe four or five months. I was suspicious, because I have a small jaw and I had to have FOUR teeth removed just to make room for my adult teeth (I never got wisdom teeth). Anyway, he got braces on after that (at 8 years old) and he is going to have them removed at his next appointment (9 years old, almost 10 years old).

 

I think what really makes a difference is WHEN did your orthodontist go to school? It is important (IMO) that you go to one who has the latest schooling. I would NOT have gone to the orthodontist who was previously the only one in town. He put MY own braces on 20 years ago and even back then his technology was way behind the times.

 

JMHO,

 

Julie

[Catherine]

We've been to the orthodontist starting when he was 5 (!) and he is watchfully waiting, although now that his baby teeth are finally beginning to be lost, I think he is planning some kind of intervention. He told me that he wants to "do something" if his top teeth come in behind the bottom ones. Well unless his jaw suddenly shrinks about 5 millimeters they are not going to be in front so I think we will be intervening.

 

Our dentist has said that often severe bite problems are addressed after growth is complete with the wonderful surgical jaw re-alignment another poster mentioned. I sure hope my little guy isn't headed for that.

 

I think prudent orthodontists here in the US save those early interventions for bite\functional problems.