Now Offering Free Orthodontic Consultations!
As your child’s adult teeth emerge, they come into the spaces previously reserved by their baby teeth. Sometimes, though, these teeth grow incorrectly, or your child’s jaw or bite doesn’t develop as they should.
When this happens, orthodontics can correct these problems and send your child into adulthood with a healthy, glowing smile. Pediatric dentist Gina Gill, DMD, part of the pediatric dental team at Yorktown Pediatric Dentistry in Yorktown Heights, New York, explains the most common orthodontic treatments we recommend for children.
Not all children need orthodontic treatment, but your child can benefit if they have any problems with their permanent teeth, jaw, or mouth. Orthodontic treatment often improves the appearance of your child’s smile, but there are also many medical reasons for orthodontics.
Teeth and jaws that are out of alignment can make it more difficult for your child to take care of their teeth, leading to more dental issues down the road. In more serious cases, orthodontic issues that aren’t corrected can even impair their speech and ability to chew.
Our team commonly prescribes these effective orthodontic treatments to prevent or correct teeth problems.
These are traditional braces that have been around for decades, and for good reason. These metal brackets fix various issues with your child’s teeth teeth spacing, alignment, and jaw and mouth positioning.
Your child’s orthodontist carefully places the brackets and wire on your child’s teeth, where they remain for the course of treatment. While wearing the braces, your child comes in for regular appointments, where our team monitors and repositions the wires as needed.
Braces shift your child’s teeth with consistent, gentle pressure and cause no more than slight discomfort after they’re adjusted. Our team teaches you and your child how to care for their teeth and gives you unique nutritional advice while wearing braces.
Most children get braces between 10 and 14 years old and wear them for 1 to 2 years. The orthodontist removes the braces when treatment is complete.
Invisalign is a newer approach to permanently correcting teeth and jaw issues without wearing braces. Instead, your child wears clear, custom-made trays a minimum of 20 hours a day.
Unlike traditional braces, your child can remove the trays for eating and brushing their teeth. However, your child needs to be careful to wear the trays for the rest of the day to meet their orthodontic goals.
Like with braces, our team monitors the Invisalign trays and your child’s progress with regular appointments.
After your child’s primary orthodontic treatment is complete, retainers help preserve the results. The most common retainers are removable plastic devices with wires custom-fitted to your child’s mouth.
Our team instructs you and your child on how frequently to wear the retainer and how to clean it daily when brushing their teeth. Usually, your child starts by wearing the retainer for longer periods, gradually reducing the time they need to wear it over time.
Orthodontic treatment is simpler and more successful in children and teenagers than in adults, so the sooner you can start your child, the better. Contact us to arrange an orthodontic consultation.
