Bite problems, overcrowding and compromised aesthetics are common motivations to bring your child to an orthodontic clinic. Between the ages of 7 and 11, their jaws are developing which makes it an ideal time to make life-lasting corrections.
Expansion and jaw advancement are the two core types of treatments we offer for children. However, each child’s case will be different so Dr Bass will provide you with a tailored treatment plan.
Orthopaedic appliances can be used to bring the lower or upper jaw forward, putting the jaws in harmony with each other and the rest of the face. This is most effective at around the age 8-9 years, although later treatment may also be successful.
We specialise in lower jaw orthopaedics using the Dynamax system developed by Dr Neville Bass and Dr Anton Bass. This is an unobtrusive removable appliance, very well tolerated by our patients and able to produce significant changes in facial growth. We also use other efficient appliance therapies.
When upper teeth stick out, they are often treated by bringing them backwards, sometimes with the extraction of second teeth to provide space. However, we often find that bringing the lower jaw forward is a better solution, not only does it correct the prominent upper teeth, it harmonises the whole face by bringing the lower jaw into an aesthetically more pleasing position.
If treated early enough, the upper jaw can be expanded with an unobtrusivorthopaedic brace over the course of a few months, correcting bite problems and giving more space for all the adult teeth to develop properly.
The upper jaw is very narrow in the case below, there is not enough room for all the upper teeth to grow in, and the bite is in reverse, the upper teeth are on the inside of the lower teeth.
An inconspicuous orthopaedic brace which encourages the development of the upper jaw to accommodate all the adult teeth and resolve the reverse-bite is often all that is needed to avoid extractions.
The result, the adult teeth now have enough space to grow in naturally, often making adolescent orthodontic treatment much simpler, sometimes negating the need for further braces altogether:
We assess crowded teeth from as young as eight years, sometimes earlier, usually when the first 2 lower adult teeth start to grow in. If left untreated until all the adult teeth have developed, treatment is much more difficult and may necessitate extractions of adult teeth to resolve the crowding. If these problems are diagnosed and treated early with simple appliances to hold space or even create space, extraction of adult teeth is often avoided.
There are many simple ways to resolve early crowding, from managing the loss of baby teeth to developing the jaws to make more space, such as expansion as explained above.
A space-holding device keeps the space as the large baby molars fall out and can make all the difference to avoid extracting adult teeth to unravel the crowding of the front teeth.
An unobtrusive removable device to actively create more space, by pushing the back teeth backwards
