A pediatric dentist or kids’ dentist in Miami is likely located close to you so it is easy to get to your appointments. Many of them will offer you an initial consultation to be able to meet the team and see if they can take your insurance plan. At this consultation you should get a sense of the team and what kind of care they provide.  A kid-friendly staff who does individual treatment plans is what you need.

Dentist for kids Miami FL – dentist near me for kids

Finding a good dentist for kids Miami FL is an important part of your child’s good health. You might think that since they have milk teeth that will fall out anyway, you don’t need to think about their teeth until the adult teeth start to come in.  But the reality is that you should take your child to the dentist for the first time no later than their first birthday, but the best time is as their first baby tooth arrives.

This gives your pediatric dentist a chance to evaluate your child’s teeth and see what potential issues might come in the years ahead.  In addition, visiting the dentist early helps your child build good habits that they can carry on through the rest of their life. A pediatric dentist is specially trained to work with kids from infants up through the teen years. They know how the jaws will develop, grow, and fuse, and they know how to relate to kids.

A pediatric dentistry clinic is one that does everything it can to make the smallest patients feel at ease.  A child who is stressed from going to the Florida dental clinic as a child is someone who will be fearful as adults.  Plus, many pediatric dentists will accept either state insurance or private insurance plans so the dental care your child receives is affordable.

Your clinic for dentistry for kids will also be able to help your child learn healthy habits to make sure that their dental care routine at home is a reliable one. Learning about how to brush and floss their teeth properly is very important to care for their teeth. Also, if your child sucks their thumb or uses a pacifier this is the time to learn about ways to end that habit. A dentist for kids Miami FL will be a great partner in your child’s overall health.

We’ll learn more about pediatric dentistry in just a moment, but let’s pause for a bit and hear from some of the experts of dentistry.

One section of Miami focused on health care centered around community smiles. That community became a place that became one that had healthier teeth (Flaer PJ et al.,2010).

Dental clinics that focus on community children’s dental care are ones that demonstrate social and cultural competence. These clinics have a significant positive impact on public health (Flaer PJ et al.,2010).

These kinds of community based programs can even effectively eliminate any dental care disparities (Flaer PJ et al.,2010).

What age is recommended that kids get braces? Is 10 too young?

10 is actually not too young, depending on what your child needs. The best age to get braces is when your child has most of their adult teeth. Generally speaking this is between 10-14 years of age. Your child should also have their 12-year molars before beginning braces, but again, this depends on their needs. Your child may need to wear braces or some other orthodontic appliance in order to make enough room for the adult teeth to be able to grow in as they should.

A first visit to the orthodontist is recommended by about age 7. This gives your pediatric orthodontist a chance to review your child’s jaw development and take any preventative action that might be necessary. This is different than the dental care they receive from pediatric dentists. Your dentist is there to ensure that the teeth and gums are healthy and clean. An orthodontist is someone who assesses the alignment of the teeth and jaws and takes any corrective action.

Sometimes children will have adult teeth come in before the milk teeth have fallen out. In that case, the orthodontist may have to do a tooth extraction to get the milk tooth out of the way so that the adult teeth can fall into the right alignment.

When is early orthodontic treatment necessary? Best dentist for kids

Kids as young as 7 may need some orthodontic care if they have crowded teeth or small palates.  In these cases, your orthodontist may use a palate expander to help your child’s upper palate widen and make room.

Kids who may need early orthodontic treatment are ones who have bite issues (also called malocclusions), protruding teeth, or small jaws. Not every child who has these issues will get early orthodontic treatment. It may be that your orthodontist or your pediatric dental offices will keep an eye on the teeth and see if the child’s natural growth or development corrects the issue. That’s why getting your child to the orthodontist early can help your child’s oral health overall.

Is it more common for kids to have braces these days? All kids dentist near me

It is indeed more common for kids to have braces when compared to years past.  There are a few reasons for this.  One of the biggest ones is that braces are relatively speaking more affordable. The cost is about the same as it was when you were a kid, but when adjusted for inflation, you will see that braces are actually less expensive than they used to be. Plus, more and more dental insurance plans offer coverage for braces, especially if they are medically necessary.

Something else to consider is that state-run insurance plans will sometimes cover if not all at least part of the cost of orthodontics for kids who need to have braces.  If they have a bite alignment issue, or they have crooked/crowded/projecting teeth, they need to have braces to have healthy teeth. Properly aligned teeth are easier to keep clean, and that means better overall oral health.  Good oral health leads to better overall health. It’s a win-win-win.

Another reason why more kids have braces than before is that over time, our jaws have gotten smaller.  Modern diets have led to changes in our teeth and jaw alignments, so more correction is needed.

Can I get dental braces at any age? Good dentist for kids

The good news is yes!  You can get braces at any age. If you were not able to get braces as a teen, it’s not too late. You can still get the correction you need. There are a couple of things to keep in mind. Your treatment time may be longer than a comparable plan for kids, because the bone matrix of your jaw is more solid, but the results will be similar.

You may also have missing teeth or gapped teeth and thought about dental implants. This is something to coordinate with your dentist and orthodontist, because you will likely get your braces first, then your implant will be considered. It may even be that your braces treatment will eliminate the need for implants. Your dentist will almost always wait until the end since braces cannot move an implant. Once it is drilled in place, that is its permanent position for life.

Reference:

Flaer, P. J., Benjamin, P. L., Lopez, M. G., & Patterson, C. (2010). Integrating child dental care at Community Smiles: the director’s goals fulfilled…. Today’s FDA : official monthly journal of the Florida dental Association, 22(3), 57–61.