When kids begin to develop an uneven smile, with crooked, crowded, or overlapping teeth, this could have a negative impact on the health of their smiles! Which is why our team offers treatment in childhood with interceptive orthodontics. In today’s blog, your Fort Worth, TX, orthodontist talks about helping little smiles.
Misalignment in Childhood
Children could develop misalignment for a number of reasons, such as thumb sucking, tongue thrusting, premature loss of baby teeth, impacted permanent teeth, or issues with the growth of the jaw and the arrival of the teeth. As their smiles are still growing and developing, this is a good time to begin guiding this growth with orthodontics, limiting the severity of misalignment until we can complete care in the teen years. We can see them for an exam as early as age seven, so if you have malocclusion, schedule a consultation!
Choosing the Treatment Options
Our team will carefully and gently examine the smile with advanced digital technology, so we can assess the cause and extent of misalignment with precision and accuracy. From there, we will create a treatment plan to begin correcting uneven smiles. For some children, this could include retainers to help guide the growth of the smile. These can be fixed in place or removable, and will be custom-fitted for the smile. We also have teeth spacers, which help guide the permanent teeth into proper position following the premature loss of baby teeth. Again, these can be fixed in place or removable.
Correcting Smiles
Once your child reaches his or her teen years and the enamel coating their teeth has properly calcified, we can continue treatment with the final phase. We have custom-made orthodontics, such as Invisalign®, which offer nearly invisible solutions to misalignment for many teens. For more severe cases of misalignment, we could offer braces, but make them less visible by using ceramic brackets instead of metal, shading these to blend with your child’s smile seamlessly.
If you have any questions about treating misalignment in childhood, then contact our team to discuss your options and to schedule a consultation. Now is a great time because the holiday season is a few weeks away, and we can start care before your schedule is too hectic. You can also use your 2022 dental benefits before they expire!
DO YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT CHILDREN’S ORTHODONTICS?
We would like to help shift uneven teeth in a child’s smile. If you have any questions about improving the alignment of little smiles, or if you would like to schedule an appointment soon, please call Lake Country Orthodontics in Fort Worth, TX at (817) 236-7846. Our office proudly serves patients who live in White Settlement, North Fort Worth, Springtown, and all surrounding communities.
