Don't jump the gun with braces when young children have

Don't jump the gun with braces when young children have crooked teeth

Modern medicine has a solution for just about every condition. If you see your blood pressure inching up at each doctor's visit, your doctor will likely want to prescribe a medication to bring it down. If a blood test shows you have a slight imbalance of your thyroid, you may walk out with a prescription to regulate your thyroid function. If your child's teeth are coming in crooked, you may rush to the dentist to get braces to straighten them out.

While, in each of these cases, a medication may be warranted, it's also wise to remember that there may be another way to tackle the problem. With prescriptions, especially as you get older, you can easily pile up a dozen different medications that you're supposed to take on a daily basis. One school of thought is that it's better to avoid taking too many prescription medicines, as these can have interactions which lead to even more health problems.

The same is true of crooked teeth in young children. Parents always want to give their children the best medical attention. We are all conditioned to use everything modern medicine has to offer, based on an assumption that it's 'the right thing to do'. If your child is 6-8 years old, with crooked teeth, your dentist may refer you to an orthodontist to fit your child with braces to correct the condition. If you've priced this treatment, you know this can run into thousands of dollars and dozens of visits over a period of 18 months to two years.

Just as there are cases of high blood pressure and thyroid conditions which should be treated with medication, there are also cases of kids with crooked teeth which warrant the braces at an early age. On the other hand, it's also true that many children with crooked teeth don't necessarily need braces. As kids are getting their permanent teeth coming in, one may be next to a baby tooth, allowing the new permanent tooth insufficient support, causing it to be crooked. Sometimes, the situation is temporary. Children's faces and jaws are still growing. As more and more permanent teeth come in, crooked teeth may naturally realign, with those which were crooked a year ago, now becoming straight.

If you think this is just a crazy notion, let me assure you I speak from personal experience. When my daughter was just six years old, her dentist recommended an appointment with an orthodontist. When she saw the orthodontist, I asked him if it would be harmful to let nature take its course and see if the crooked teeth might not naturally realign over the next couple of years, requiring fewer adjustments with the braces. In my daughter's case, she had just a few, slightly crooked teeth.

The orthodontist seemed a bit surprised at my query, but said that, yes, it was possible that these teeth might also naturally straighten out and that her progress could be monitored with quarterly visits.

The bottom line? By the time she was eight, all but one tooth were straight. At that time she was fitted with a small brace to address that single, crooked tooth. She also had not a single cavity.

Full braces make brushing a more difficult process, one which young kids lack patience for without braces. It seemed logical that braces might increase the chance of food getting stuck in between the teeth, so this was an additional concern.

If your child has crooked teeth and is referred to an orthodontist, ask he or she to assess your child's specific condition and see if a wait-and-see approach, with quarterly visits, might not also be a viable solution for your child.

You have read the best review article categorized by best tips and the title Don't jump the gun with braces when young children have. You can bookmark or spread this post by using this URL http://besttipsto.blogspot.com/2012/04/don-jump-gun-with-braces-when-young.html. Thank You!