FAMILY HEALTH
BRACES How Early is Too Early? by Nic Enright-Morin Train tracks. Metal mouth. Brace face. Growing up as a kid in the 1980s (and in the UK) other teens weren’t shy with their jibes about my new sparkling braces. Truth be told, I didn’t give a hoot what they called my new smile. All of those (let’s be honest, unoriginal) orthodontic slurs were nothing compared to the years of taunts I got due to my protruding incisors: Fang, Vampire Girl, Dracula — you get the picture. Fast forward three decades and sightings of kids sporting toothy, metallic grins are a lot more commonplace. In fact, if you are a parent and your kids have their permanent teeth, chances are you’ve had an encounter with an orthodontist. As someone who spent five years in and out of an orthodontist chair, and now with three kids of my own (all who have inherited my English teeth), it’s fair to say that I’m a smile expert. And as a self-appointed smile specialist, I’ve noted orthodontics have come a long way since my mouth was full of metal. But as many parents have the conversation about where to get braces, they don’t seem to talk much about when to get braces. I’ve noticed that younger elementary school kids are getting braces, and correct me if I’m wrong, but I had always thought braces were a teenage affliction: the jewelry of the teenangst starter-kit. Jokes aside, I felt riddled with guilt when my son’s elementary school pals rocked up to the house with their braces already firmly in place, when I hadn’t even considered braces as an option for my nine-year-old. Yeah, I worried we were behind schedule, but truth be told, I added the ‘not getting braces yet’ to my evergrowing stack of mum guilt. But is there such a thing as getting a head start on getting your kids braces? And is it possible for your children to get them too early? To get the lowdown on age-appropriate orthodontics treatments, I went to the team at the Pediatric Dental Group (PDG). According to PDG, while in most cases orthodontic treatment is best once the patient’s
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permanent adult teeth have come in, there are some situations where earlier treatment is necessary, like in overbite situations where orthodontists use growth to their advantage. For example, some kids need to be treated early if the treatment involves changing the bone structure while they are still growing. The good news is, that doesn’t always mean braces: it can mean that the child needs an expansion appliance to widen their upper jaw to create more space for the developing adult teeth. This expansion appliance is often more effective when the patient is younger and their jaw bone has not yet fused. Although some parents choose optional, early
treatment these days to align the upper front four permanent incisors, in most cases, it is best to wait, as starting early treatment can cost more, and full braces may still be needed once all the permanent teeth are in place. Another thing PDG pointed out was that oral hygiene and wearing their appliances can become a chore for some kids if they get tired of ongoing or lengthy treatment plans. I’ve got to admit, that point alone made me feel better about not bringing my kids to the orthodontist before they were twelve - just the thought of making my kids brush their bracey smiles every night while they are in elementary school makes me shudder.
