Why Does My Child Need Early Intervention?

 Maybe you were referred by your dentist or you noticed something developing a little funny with your child’s teeth, regardless of your reasons you’ve brought your child into an orthodontic clinic.

The orthodontist mentions that your child should go into Phase One or early intervention treatment, but you may be wondering: why? Why do children need early intervention?

Before we get into why some children need early intervention, it’s important for us to explain what early prevention  or Phase One is.  

What is early invention or Phase One?
Early intervention is for children who are too young to begin full orthodontic treatment. These kids are usually around ages 7-10, at this point in their young lives the kids have what’s called mixed dentition.

Mixed dentition means that they have a mix of their baby teeth and permanent teeth. Most children have all their adult, permanent teeth by age 11. 

The goal of early intervention is to prevent or lessen the severity of future orthodontic problems by helping the teeth come in properly and developing the jaw properly. By going through early prevention treatment you can help reduce the treatment time in Phase two (if necessary). 

Now on to the top 5 reasons children need early prevention..

Reason One: Early Intervention can help prevent serious issues down the line
As mentioned the whole goal of phase one treatment is to prevent serious orthodontic treatment down the line.

If a child is brought in early enough and the orthodontist is able to see that there are issues with the eruption of the teeth, they can remedy this issue by using spacer appliances to help the teeth come in properly rather than allowing them to erupt misaligned then correct the issue later. 

When problems are detected early enough, it makes it easier to remedy them from the onset rather than later on when they’re fully developed. Early orthodontics is great to help detect and help prevent serious orthodontic treatment. 

Reason Two: Improvement with speech
If your child is having issues speaking, many people don’t consider misalignment with teeth as a contributing cause. If your teeth are crowded, protruding or just misaligned in general, it can make annunciating letter such as “S” and “T”. Correcting the teeth and aligning the jaw can help prevent this problem from following your child into the future. 

Reason Three: Less chance of tooth decay
When a child has crooked teeth, there is a higher chance that they will have a more difficult time cleaning their teeth because plaque and bacteria have more nooks and crannies to hide in.

Since there are more nooks and crannies that are difficult to thoroughly clean, it increases your child’s likelihood of tooth decay. 

Reason Four: Better sleep
If your child has common headaches or even neck pain, this can be due to grinding at night that they may not even be aware of. Teeth grinding is a common symptom of a misaligned jaw or teeth.

Not correcting this issue can follow your child and cause plenty of problems later on in life. With the help of early preventative treatment this can help alleviate these sleep issues and save your child a lot of grief down the line. 

Reason Five: Guides the permanent teeth
The biggest benefit of early prevention is the detection of the eruption pattern in your child’s development.

When the orthodontist detects an abnormality in your child's growth pattern they can actually address it and help guide the permanent teeth into the ideal functional positions. This will help cut down any future treatment time as well as save you money in your child’s future. 

Early prevention is necessary because it helps set your child up for success in the future. Correcting orthodontic problems can help you save time in the future as well as ensure that your child grows up with a healthy confident smile.