You might be on the fence about if you need to get your child braces or not. Maybe your child’s teeth are a little crooked, and you’re wondering if they’ll just straighten themselves out and if it’s worth the time and money it takes to get braces.

Pediatric braces are becoming more common as parents are starting to realize just how important they are. Getting kids braces dramatically improves their bones while they’re still malleable. Braces help to expand the jaw and make more room for permanent teeth, helping you avoid painful, costly problems later.

And if you’re worried about the cost, adolescent braces tend to be a lot less expensive than adult braces. They are also less time consuming, which will be great news for you and your child. Kid’s braces are the right choice for your child because they will prevent unnecessary pain in the future and present, improve oral health, and improve your child’s overall confidence.

Reasons for Braces

There are many reasons that kids need braces. These include:

  • Overcrowded, overlapping, or crooked teeth
  • Malocclusion is often known as a bad bite
  • Extra teeth or protruding teeth

The most common form of malocclusion in children is the crossbite. A crossbite occurs when the jaw deviates to one side and causes the upper and lower teeth to fit improperly. Overbites and underbites are also common types of pediatric malocclusions. Overbites happen when the top set of teeth extend over the lower set of teeth. Underbites occur when the lower set of teeth extend past the upper teeth.

Tooth and jaw problems in children can also be caused by thumb sucking and losing baby teeth too soon. Additionally, extra teeth, missing teeth, and protruding teeth can all contribute to the reasons behind your child needing braces.

So, what happens if these misalignment and teeth problems aren’t solved?

What Happens If My Child Doesn’t Get Braces?

Ignoring teeth and jaw alignment issues happening to your child is one of the worst things you can do. Having braces is about much more than just aesthetics.

Kids who don’t get braces when they need them can experience chipped teeth, asymmetric jaw growth, jaw pain, tooth loss, a poor bite, clenching, and grinding. They might also experience severe headaches due to the misaligned jaw.

All these problems tally up to become very expensive and painful in the future for your child. They may also face social anxiety if they happen to lose teeth or have chipped and crooked teeth as an adult. So, not only will avoiding braces be physically painful for your child in the future, but it might also be emotionally damaging.

Benefits of Braces in Childhood

There are so many benefits your child will have if you decide to make the right choice and get them the braces they need.

Braces will improve the oral health of your child. Kids are already notorious for having cavities since they’re still learning how to properly take care of teeth while indulging in sweets. This problem becomes even worse with overcrowded teeth and can even lead to tooth decay and gum disease. Braces fix this problem by allowing more space for the teeth, so your child is able to floss and brush appropriately.

Getting your child braces will improve their speech and their ability to chew food. Jaw alignment issues are known to cause lisps. Overbites can end up creating whistling sounds while talking. Both of these things can be detrimental to your child’s confidence. Furthermore, a crossbite, for example, can make chewing food a lot more complicated. This has the ability to severely impact your child’s over wellbeing. Braces improve jaw alignment issues and, as a result, improve speech and chewing.

Overcrowding in your child’s mouth can hinder the ability of permanent adult teeth to come through correctly. Wearing braces allows for the teeth to be correctly spaced, so the new teeth have enough space to grow in gracefully. This will also reduce the likelihood that your child will experience painful, impacted permanent teeth.

Braces reduce the time needed for the second phase of treatment. After adult teeth grow in, they might end up being spaced out and require braces. This will be considered the second phase of your child’s treatment. This phase can be shortened by entering phase one during the years of early development.

Getting your child braces while they’re young will fix any jaw alignment issues and allows for adequate spacing for adult teeth. This makes the second phase of treatment go a lot smoother because there is a lot less work to be done. Your orthodontist will likely only be focused on the spacing issues instead of misalignment.

Where to get treatment

You may be wondering if your dentist can install the braces for your child. Typically, your primary dentist that your child gets routine treatment done by will not also be licensed as an orthodontist. You’ll likely need to find a separate pediatric orthodontist that your dentist may even refer you to.

It’s best to search for an orthodontist that specializes in kid’s braces to make sure your child is in the best, most knowledgeable hands. For example, although Bordentown Braces in Robbinsville, NJ treats adult patients, they also specialized in teen and adolescent braces. They even have special Invisalign for teens

Conclusion

It may seem as though braces during childhood is a waste of time and money because those teeth that are coming in are going to fall out anyway. But leaving a misaligned bite and crowded and crooked teeth unattended will cause painful and expensive problems later on in your child’s life.

Misaligned teeth can cause problems with your child’s speech and chewing, which can cause speech problems like a lisp and malnourishment. Both of which can be the main factor in your child’s physical and emotional distress. Getting kid braces for your child is the most responsible decision to save them from unnecessary pain, embarrassment, missing teeth, and costly surgeries in the future.