Not every parent understands the importance of dentistry for children. Your pediatric dentist will be able to provide you with some tips on dental treatment and dental care in infants, children, and teens.
Dentistry for kids
If you are a parent living in Miami, whose child or children have been referred for orthodontic or dental care, you might wonder what that all means. You may be wondering about general dentistry for kids, and how that is different from orthodontic treatment for kids, or you might just want to know more about dentistry for kids and pediatric dental care. Perhaps you have had a great dentist for a long time and you wonder why you can’t just take your kids there? You might have done some internet research for dentistry for kids in Miami FL or for oral health for children. Maybe finding state of the art pediatric dental offices is important to you, or you are keen on finding a pediatric dentist near me so you can schedule an appointment.
If this describes you, you’re not alone as many parents understand the need to take their children for pediatric dentistry care and some might even require pediatric orthodontic care. We’ll look at more information about pediatric dentistry and orthodontics in just a moment, but before we begin, let’s hear from the experts of orthodontic and dental medicine on what they have to say about dentistry for kids.
Pediatric dentistry provides primary and comprehensive preventive and therapeutic oral health care for infants and children through adolescence (Shah, 2017).
Pediatric dentistry treatment and management comprises behavior guidance, care, and supervision of orofacial growth and development, caries prevention, sedation, pharmacological management, and hospital dentistry (Shah, 2017).
The skills of a pediatric dentist are specific for the ever-changing stages of the dental, physical, and psychosocial development for treating conditions and diseases distinctive to these growing individuals (Shah, 2017).
How does dentistry fix dental issues in kids? General dentistry Miami
Pediatric dentistry is a specialty that focuses on the treatment of specific dental issues that infants, children, and teens have. The dentist will examine your child’s oral health and dentition and discuss with you the best solution forward to fix whatever issues your child may have. Some common issues that children present to the pediatric dentist office include tooth decay, sensitive teeth, poor oral habits like thumb sucking, poor teeth alignment, among others. Pediatric dentists will treat these issues with the appropriate state of the art equipment and the tools in their toolkit, as they are specialists in this field.
What is the right age to correct teeth alignment? General dentistry and orthodontics near me
There is no one right age to correct teeth alignment; however, the ideal ages to correct teeth alignment are during early adolescence or between the ages of 10 and 14. The reason for this is quite simple; during this time of life young adolescents are growing at a phenomenal rate. This allows the natural growth of the child’s jaw and teeth to complement any corrective dental work that needs to be done.
Simply put, their own natural growth spurt into puberty during this time in their life will innately help speed up any and all dental and orthodontic work that needs to be done, especially as the adult teeth are coming in. This allows them to be set into their correct positions as they come instead of having to wait for them to become set and fixed into bad positions and then try to change it later. It is little wonder that the vast majority of orthodontists and dentists the world over all recommend that any orthodontic work that needs to be done should be done during this adolescent phase.
That is not to say, however, that if you cannot get the orthodontic work done between 10-14, you are out of luck. You can get orthodontic work done at any age, but you just need to be aware that treatment times might take longer, and you may need to wear a retainer a bit longer to help the set fully set.
How long will it take to align teeth with braces? Dentistry just for kids
Unfortunately there’s no simple answer for how long it will take to align teeth with braces. There are many different factors at play. Things such as your own genetics, what you need to have done in terms of orthodontic treatment, and even the materials used or the type of braces received can all play a significant role.
For instance, if an individual chose to get Invisalign, their treatment time may be slower as Invisalign is removable. If it is not worn for the required amount of time it exerts less stress on the teeth than other more traditional forms of braces like metal and wire bracket braces can. As such, it can cause the treatment time to be slower. Ultimately traditional braces, ceramic braces, and lingual braces will all be about the same speed and it simply depends on what your personal needs, budget, and desire for aesthetics are.
If baby teeth are straight, will permanent teeth be straight? General dentistry for kids
Unfortunately there is no way to know this for certain. Sometimes the baby’s teeth may come in crooked for one reason or another while the adult teeth come in straight. Likewise, it is entirely possible for your child’s baby teeth to be totally straight and for an occasional adult tooth to come in at a weird angle.
Ultimately this is a prime reason why it’s important to have regular checkups, especially during the period of pre-adolescence, as this is the time when it is most beneficial to get orthodontic work done if it is needed. Having regular x-rays, checkups, and dental visits can prevent and spot problems months and sometimes years before they become a serious issue.
This means that if your child needs orthodontic care, you would have lots of time to prepare, choose the right option, and have the exact plan in mind before it is ever time to implement it. Ultimately like with all things medicine, simply having regular visits, talking with your local experts, and not putting off tomorrow what should be examined today are all great ways of ensuring high quality dental health for you and your family.
Reference:
Shah S. (2017). Pediatric dentistry- novel evolvement. Annals of medicine and surgery (2012), 25, 21–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amsu.2017.12.005