Crooked, Misaligned and Crowded Teeth

Habits such as incorrect swallowing, tongue thrusting, thumb sucking, mouth breathing can cause poor development of the jaws and therefore poor facial appearance and crooked teeth.

If a child's teeth and jaws are not developing correctly, facial development is also most often incorrect. The influence of health problems like allergies, asthma, poor posture and nutrition all havean effect on facial and dental development. The way a child swallows determines if the teeth will be correctly aligned or crowded.

These problems should be evaluated and treated while the child is still growing, well before the usual age when children have braces. Orthodontic treatment with extraction of permanent teeth can be avoided by early action.

Early treatment to correct these habits and develop the jaw can result in a better looking face and help avoid braces and extractions.

The secret to the above is early diagnosis at the age of 4 or above.

Treatment between ages of 4 and 10 generally involves around orthopaedics which is where we generally expand the jaws so that we minimize the need for orthodontics or even if we need orthodontics then it for a short period of time

After generally the age of 12 we have to place braces on. However that does not mean the orthopaedics cannot be carried out. Each child is an individual and needs to be evaluated before any treatment is commenced

To find out how you can best protect your child’s teeth, contact GUS directly.