As a parent, you want the best for your child and one of the greatest gifts you can give them is a beautiful, healthy smile that will be with them for a lifetime. At Melissa Orthodontics we’ve seen the impact that a great smile and early intervention can have on a child’s well-being and self-confidence. We believe that the foundation to a healthy lifelong smile begins with early monitoring of facial growth and dental development.
It is important to evaluate your kids early to make sure growth and development of the face, airway and jaws is proportional and there are no issues with the developing adult teeth. An early orthodontic checkup allows Dr. Ramoliya, to diagnose any potential problems that can only be fixed before permanent teeth come in and the jaw growth stops. There are some cases where early (or Phase I) treatment is necessary to help prevent future problems and avoid more aggressive procedures like permanent tooth extraction and jaw surgery. Dr. Ramoliya believes growth and development checks are so important for children, that Melissa Family Dental & Orthodontics offers FREE growth checks and will continually monitor your child’s facial development and tooth eruption.
Benefits of Early or Two Phase Treatment
- Increase space for adult teeth to erupt
- Help with tongue posture or thumb sucking
- Reduce tooth grinding (bruxism)
- Modify growth for a balanced facial appearance
- Prevent future impacted teeth
- Prevent trauma/damage on flared teeth
- Improve self-confidence and appearance
- Avoid invasive procedures such as surgery or tooth extractions
Most orthodontic problems can be detected at an early age. During a growth check, Dr. Ramoliya will evaluate several things including jaw proportion, airway and speech as well as take an X-ray to see your child’s developing permanent teeth. We are conservative with our approach to early treatment but if there is a problem that cannot be resolved later then early treatment will be recommended.
Early (Phase one) treatment is a specialized approach to treating the face and jaws of a child before growth is complete and the permanent teeth erupt. It often involves treatment of the airway and bones of the face that cannot be treated when these structures stop growing or bones fuse. Most early treatment (Phase one) takes 9-12 months and begins when the top and bottom permanent incisors (front teeth) are erupted. For some kids this can be age 7 and for others it can be closer to age 10, as dental development is not closely correlated to age. A second phase of treatment is usually needed later to align the permanent teeth once they all erupt. The second phase is usually shorter and easier due to the corrections made in the first phase or early treatment.