All of my kid’s friends have braces, does my kid need braces too?

What a great question! The simple answer is…. maybe. I know, that’s not particularly helpful but it’s true! When I was a child, it was more common for orthodontists to wait until all of the permanent teeth came in and then fix what was there. This process often involved the extraction of permanent teeth to make the rest of the teeth fit correctly in the dental arch. As orthodontics has evolved, they now take more advantage of the fact that younger children are growing in order to modify that growth in order to help guide the growth of their maxilla and mandible into more ideal forms (and to limit the number of permanent teeth that are extracted). Does every child need this?

There are some practitioners who believe that everyone can benefit from expansion and there may be reasons that this is true, but “may benefit” and “need” are two different things. The children who benefit the *most* from expansion are children who have severe dental crowding, underdeveloped bone growth, dental or skeletal crossbites or really anything where the growth of the bones and/or teeth aren’t doing what would be most advantageous for their long term dental and physical health (this also includes palatal development and nasal breathing- it’s hard to breathe through your nose if you have a very high palate and therefore very small nasal cavity). So how do you know?

The best way to know you’re not likely to miss the opportunity is to establish a regular routine of care with your pediatric dentist. Part of our exam is to monitor your child’s growth and development- always ask every question you have- and even if you don’t, we will be sure to let you know when (or if) your child will need this early (Phase I) orthodontic intervention.