If you’re a parent,you’ve probably wondered if your child will need orthodontic braces. It’s a worry because braces are expensive, inconvenient – and not popular with your child! But as a parent, of course you want your child to have a straight smile.
The functional role of the face and teeth are key to your child’s dental health and normal development. For a good dental arch, your child’s jaw and cranial bones must develop properly.
What’s the age for seeing an orthodontist?
Currently, the American Academy of Orthodontics recommends that children should see an Pedodontist(Kids Specialist)/Orthodontist at age 7.
But here’s the problem. The causes of crooked teeth usually begin long before 7 years of age. A child’s jaw development is going into its final stages by age 7. The causes of a crooked jaw and/or teeth can stem from developmental issues that begin at birth – or even before!
Functional dentistry can now help to identify and address these causes of crooked teeth. Myofunctional therapy and orofacial myology are two fields concerned with correcting these issues in children.
Ways to help your kids grow straight teeth
Key factors in healthy jaw growth and straight teeth include:
Nasal breathing§
Tongue position
Lip posture
Skeletal posture
If your child has an unusual posture or breathes mainly through their mouth, they may have a facial muscle or development disorder. This can be due to a cascade of events at critical points in your child’s growth.
Common Causes
#1: Incorrect Skeletal, Jaw and Teeth Development Jaw development
Maxilla or upper jaw
This houses the upper teeth, the hard palate and the lower border of the orbit (eye socket). The maxilla is the center of facial growth. Its development is driven by both nasal breathing and tongue posture.
Signs of an under grown maxilla:
- High, thin, V-shaped palate
- Thin, long face (from the front)
- Lack of cheek bones
- Sunken mid-face or nose (from side-on profile view)
- Droopy or uneven eyes
- Crooked upper teeth (from age 7 plus)
The narrow palate and upper jaw distorts the nasal airway by lengthening the pharynx and decreases the nasal airway volume. These changes are a risk factor for obstructive sleep apnea. Dental arch narrowing in children can increase risk of snoring and sleep apnea symptoms.
Mandible or lower jawbone
This houses the tongue and connects to your skull via the temporomandibular jaw joint (TMJ).
Signs of an under grown mandible:
- Retruded chin
- Rounded jawline
- A lack of forward growth in the upper and lower jaws
- A side profile with jawline that swings down and backwards into the airway
#2: Nasal airway obstruction
Nasal breathing is central to proper jaw and teeth development. In one day you will take between 20,000 to 30,000 breaths. Normal breathing provides the forces that expand the maxilla and upper jaw.
If a child has a chronic blocked sinus or nasal obstruction, they may form a mouth breathing habit. It only takes a slight obstruction to increase pressure in the nasal airway and cause a child to revert to open mouth breathing.
Causes for nasal blockages and a chronic blocked sinus include:
- Sinus infections
- Enlarged nasal turbinates
- Deviated septum
- Swollen tonsils and adenoids
- Chronic upper airway infections
- Allergies
- The tongue falling into the airway during sleep
An assessment with an ear nose and throat (ENT) surgeon to assess the nasal airways is an important part of normal childhood facial development.
#3: Incorrect Tongue Posture
In proper tongue posture, we should see the tongue up against the palate. The tip and back of the tongue should be pressed upwards to the palate. This activates all the muscles that connect to the jaw, the base of the skull, the spine and the throat.
A low and forward tongue posture indicates that your child’s tongue isn’t being pressed up against the palate correctly.
One of the best times to check your child’s tongue posture is when they are watching television. What do they do with their tongue? Can you see it? Do they poke it out?
Also consider:
Do they have a tongue thrust when they speak?
Do they have a lisp or speech impediment?
Do they have a tongue-tie? This can prevent your child from achieving a high tongue posture.
Is their palate narrow or V-shaped?
Swallowing incorrectly by straining facial muscles
During correct swallowing, the tongue should perform a wave motion across the palate.The motion exerts a widening, forward and upwards force, expanding the maxilla.
A child should have straight spinal posture, closed lips and nasal breathing when eating, swallowing and at rest. Watch your child’s normal swallow. Can they swallow food comfortably with their teeth together? If it looks uncomfortable for them, it’s likely they have some form of incorrect swallow.
Dysphagia or incorrect swallow
The most common form of incorrect swallow is a tongue-thrust swallow. This is where the tongue comes forward between the teeth during the swallow instead of against the palate.
Signs your child has an incorrect swallow:
- Their front teeth are held slightly apart with their tongue placed between them.
- There is an inadequate lip seal at rest.
- Cheek and chin muscles are used as compensation, which suck against the dentition. This puts a contraction force on the face and palate.
- Chubby cheeks. The buccinator ring – the group of facial muscles including your lips and cheeks – may become overdeveloped due to incorrect swallowing. It can result in bulging or chubby cheeks.
#4: Poor Lip Posture
Your child’s facial muscles should close the lips at rest. If their lips don’t sit together at rest, it’s often due to a low and forward tongue posture.
Signs of lip incompetence:
- The lower lip is more likely to show flaccidity or floppiness than the upper lip. A flaccid lower lip that lacks adequate muscle tone will appear droopy and it can appear to roll forward.
- Muscle strain is seen over the chin or mentalis muscles as lips are brought into contact. You will see muscle dimpling/buckling in the skin overlying the vertically-positioned mentalis muscles. These muscles are below the corners of the lower lip, extending downward to an area lateral to the chin. By contrast, a normal lips-together rest posture should have no activation of the mentalis strain.
#5: Oral behaviors
Certain non-nutritive sucking and oral behaviors can signal an oral development impairment.
- Thumb sucking and chewing habits
- Pacifiers
Many parents ask if pacifiers can make their baby’s teeth crooked. The answer is yes– pacifiers can cause an open bite. But the good news is, there’s plenty of time to correct oral behaviors in your child.
When to start treatment for crooked teeth in kids??
A lot of confusion prevails over the question “When to start???”
A lot of orthodontic problems can be corrected with ease if diagnosed& treated at an early age. Early diagnosis is crucial; this is the essence of preventive and interceptive orthodontics.
Our special emphasis is on this aspect of orthodontic care. We routinely correct irregularly positioned, crowded and protruded teeth in children (with Braces) giving them the beautiful smile they all so rightfully deserve. But when correction is done in the growing years, not just the teeth but the growth of the jaws can be influenced to produce very pleasing and balanced facial profiles.
Previously many Myofunctional appliances like face mask, Headgear, Twin block were used,but the appliances were cumbersome & the compliance with kids was the main problem.
In recent times I found a novel appliance to this problem….. The Myobrace!
Functional therapy is designed to deal with these incorrect myofunctional habits by teaching children to breathe through their nose,rest the tongue correctly on the roof of the mouth, swallow correctly and continue widening the jaws so they grow to their full and proper size. This results in sufficient room for the teeth, allowing them to come in naturally straight and often without the need for braces.
The Myobrace®System is preventivepre-orthodontic treatment that focuses on addressing the underlying causes of crooked teeth, often without the need for braces or extraction of teeth, unlocking natural growth and development.
Treatment is best suited to children aged 3 to 15 yrs and involves using a series of removable intra-oral appliances that are worn for 1-2 hours each day plus overnight while sleeping.
The Myobrace®System consists of a series of intra-oral appliances that are worn for one hour each day plus overnight while sleeping.In addition, the patient education program, known as Myobrace®Activities, is performed twice daily in conjunction with wearing the Myobrace® appliance and consist of a series of breathing, tongue, swallowing, lip and cheek exercises.
What Myobrace® treatment does:
- Corrects poor oral habits
- Develops & aligns the jaws
- Straightens the teeth
- Optimizes facial development
- Improves overall health
- Promotes healthy eating habits
Advantages of Myobrace over other appliances
- Good Patient compliance(Acceptance)
- Simple exercises( very easy & very effective)
- Correction of Habits, leading to normal muscular patterns
- No relapse( teeth once straightened will not go back to its original position)
- Good facial form & straight teeth( without braces)v Only worn for an hour during daytime
- No damage to enamel or Roots(usually happens with Braces)
If you want to know more schedule your appointment at
+91-9032035039,+91-7207048801, 040-24652524
Vinay’s Dental Care, # 4-7-1065, C/o Sunil opticians
Esamia bazaar,
Koti, Hyderabad
Telangana 500027.
E-mail: labhivinay@gmail.com
Website: www.sunilopticians.com