Both the Canadian and American Association of Orthodontist’s recommend that children should be seen for their first orthodontic examination by the age of 7. We strongly recommend that your child is seen for an examination by this age, as much more severe problems can occur if not addressed during your child’s pre-adolescent development.
However, most young patients undergo orthodontic treatment between the ages of 10-14 during their adolescent growth spurt, once the majority of permanent teeth have erupted. If we examine your child at a young age and feel that they do not require any immediate treatment, we will continue to monitor the development of their permanent teeth and jaw growth on an annual basis.
The benefits of early orthodontic treatment for your child may include the following:
- Reduce or eliminate the need to extract permanent teeth
- Reduce or eliminate the need for jaw surgery
- Lower the risk of injury to protruded front teeth
- Correct harmful oral habits
- Improve their smile/self confidence
- Improve speech development
- Influence growth of the jaws in a positive manner
- Reduce appearance-consciousness during critical developmental years
- Improve the width of the dental arches
- Simplify and shorten treatment time for full braces
- Increase the stability of final treatment results
- Reduce the likelihood of impacted permanent teeth
- Guide permanent teeth into more favourable positions
- Improve lip closure
- Preserve or gain space for erupting permanent teeth
- Reduce potential for damage to jaw joints
Early assessment allows your child to become accustomed to an Orthodontist and gives our team the opportunity to alleviate any misconceptions your child may have toward treatment – we will be sure to prove that orthodontics is a fun and rewarding experience!
