Orthodontics for 7 year olds

Here are Megan & Ryan before Phase I started.

My 7 year old twins started Phase I orthodontics in April of this year. Many, many people have expressed shock and total dismay at us having started our kids so young. We actually did this with our 13-year old as well. We learned from our pediatric dentist Dr. Jack, that the current recommendations are to have children evaluated around their 7th birthdays. Each child is different, and it does depend on whether they have begun to lose baby teeth or not. But here is the interesting thing: when I was 12 years old and about to get braces, I had to have 8 molars pulled to create room for moving my teeth around and straightening them. Not so, today!

Today, orthodontists know that the upper and lower palates of the mouth have not hardened into solid bone - this doesn't occur until approximately age 9. It is similar to a baby's skull and the soft spot. This is my layman's understanding, not technical. Many kids have narrow arches and/or palates and with the use of expanders and such they can painlessly widen the palates of the kids and then 'guide' incoming permanent teeth to their proper positions. Isn't that amazing? My kids have gotten the palate expanders, and should have just a few brackets placed on their teeth to help with the guiding to proper spaces. They truly have had ZERO pain with these treatments. I remember braces very differently.

My eldest Jason had a crossbite due to pacifier use, and this problem was corrected easily with early orthodontics. Now at age 13, his teeth look really good. He will have one last evaluation in late August. He has a tiny space between his front teeth and one barely crooked tooth on the bottom. But there is a realistic chance that he is through with orthodontics. We anticipate that his bite is perfect and that he just has the two cosmetic issues.

Ryan, my boy twin, started immediately with an upper and lower palate expander and head gear. Already, in the first 8 weeks, we could see a noticible difference in his teeth. The gap between the 2 front teeth has closed by half, and the headgear has helped move his upper teeth into a new position and he no longers bites onto his lower teeth. He plays soccer, and I was afraid he would fracture his teeth!

Megan, the other twin, has an expander on the upper jaw along with something called a thumb guard. Bless her heart, she had sucked her thumb FOREVER! She just was addicted to it. But the thumb guard made breaking that strong habit so easy! It literally happened overnight. She still has some issues with her tongue and an infantile swallow, but those things are being worked on and should resolve in time. She received her neck gear at the second visit to the orthodontist. She was a tiny bit upset the first night because it felt 'weird' to her - but we talked through it and everything went fine. Since then, she has been a champ!

Well, now that I have jumped on the Orthodontics soap box, I will wrap this for now. I will post more pictures as we progress through their treatment.