Early orthodontic treatment can sometimes be concerning for parents.Usually, parents are worried about their child getting braces when they still have their baby teeth. However, there are a good number of pros to go against this.

Here are all the pros and cons of early orthodontic treatment, so that you can stay informed.

The Pros of Early Orthodontic Treatment

There are many benefits to pediatric braces. Early treatment intercepts problems before they get larger and affect more areas of your child’s mouth. Once your child’s permanent teeth have emerged, orthodontic treatment becomes much more complicated.

If you opt for a later treatment, your child’s gums and jawbones are harder to move and do not adjust as well to the moving teeth. Later treatments are still possible, but correcting oral problems early is still the better option.

These are the main pros and cons of early treatment:

Pros

Makes Room for Adult Teeth

Sometimes, baby teeth refuse to fall out on time and block erupting adult teeth. This can cause damage to your child’s teeth and overcrowding- which will cause more problems as the child’s teeth and jaw continue to develop.

When space is stolen from erupting teeth, they tend to make their own space. Either by pushing the other teeth out of the way or emerging in the wrong spot. This causes teeth to become misaligned and make be a little painful for your child.

Early orthodontic treatment catches these issues and fixes them before they start to impact your child’s permanent teeth. Oftentimes braces for kids are placed on their baby teeth- this is to ensure that they can move and that the jaw is adjusted before teeth began to erupt.

Corrects Misaligned Teeth

When a child’s teeth are crowded, they will often become misaligned. This can lead to overbites, crossbites, and underbites. On rare occasions, the lower jaw and be forced to the side to keep the child’s teeth in a comfortable area- leading to facial asymmetry and low self-esteem.

Braces for kids can fix, or entirely prevent, misaligned teeth. While it might seem strange to put braces on baby teeth to many parents, correcting an improper bite now will make it easier for your child’s adult teeth to emerge in the correct alignments.

It Protects their Health

Healthier smiles with straighter teeth help to protect your child while they play sports, or participate in any physical activities. Damages to misaligned teeth can be much more severe and cause more damage than straight teeth. This is because improperly placed teeth will put extra pressure on other teeth.

If your child were to be injured in the mouth while playing an intense game, misaligned teeth would be more likely to push into each other- causing chipping or other damage to the gums.

Straight smiles also protect your child’s self-esteem and mental health. Children with misaligned teeth are more likely to receive bullying from their peers based on their appearance. While this type of bullying should not be happening anyway, early treatment can help keep your child from experiencing social injury.

The Process is Not as Long as You Think

For a child, it might feel like they are going to be wearing braces for the rest of their lives. However, this is hardly the case. Pediatric braces are usually worn 10 to 15 months during the first part of early treatment.

There is a period where your child would wear a retainer then move onto another section of treatment when their adult teeth have erupted. This second half of the treatment can be significantly reduced due to the effects of the first round.

Cons

Frustration

Children will often become frustrated with their braces and experience a burn out on the treatment. They can become irritated when they can no longer eat their favorite foods or need to spend more time brushing their teeth.

Orthodontic treatment is something that a patient needs to be fully committed to, to see the best results. Not every child is going to be able to keep that level of focus up for several months. Because of this, younger children are going to need to be supervised more closely by their parents during the process. They might try to take shortcuts with their teeth.

Keep in mind that, whether or not your child has braces, it can be difficult to get them to brush their teeth properly. However, while going through the treatment, you will want to be sure that your child is taking care of their teeth and braces.

Mild complications can be caused by not taking care of the braces correctly. Hard foods can cause the wires to snap and food may become lodged between the braces and teeth, making it more important to spend more time brushing.

How Do the Early Orthodontic Treatment Pros and Cons Compare?

As you can see, there are many more pros than there are cons. While your child might become frustrated by their braces, you need to remind them that wearing them is a short term thing. Once they have them moved, they are going to have a beautiful smile for the rest of their lives.

Bordentown Braces has the best pediatric braces in Trenton, NJ. We always do our best to provide the highest quality oral care to children and make the process much less of a chore for them. We know that the pros greatly outweigh the cons in this situation, and would love to be a part of the orthodontic treatment process for your child.

Conclusion

A great smile will last a lifetime and improve your child’s confidence levels. They might be frustrated with having to wear braces, but once they have them removed, they will have the best possible version of their smile.

This also keeps their adult teeth healthy and prevents gum disease, among many other oral problems. Misaligned teeth can become painful for your child, so fixing the issues as soon as possible is always in their best interest.