Get a Head Start on a Beautiful Smile
As a parent in Ann Arbor, you want the best for your child. That includes healthy teeth and a pleasing smile.
Dr. Li will treat your children like her own by giving them the best possible orthodontic care.
Kids Should Get an Orthodontic Check-Up By 7
By age seven, your child will still have some baby teeth present, and their teeth have developed enough for subtle problems with jaw growth, and emerging teeth can be spotted.
This check-up may reveal that your child’s bite is fine, and braces for kids aren’t necessary.
Or, Dr. Li may identify a developing problem but recommend monitoring your child’s growth and development, and then, if indicated, begin treatment at the appropriate time for your child.
In other cases, Dr. Li might find a problem that can benefit from early treatment.
What is Early Treatment?
Early treatment may catch serious problems before they fully develop when they can be prevented or made less severe. This can make future treatment shorter and less complicated.
In some cases, Dr. Li will be able to achieve results that may not be possible once the face and jaws have finished growing.
Choosing the Best Time for Treatment
Every child is different and will have a different ideal time to start treatment. Most often, active treatment begins between the ages of 9 and 14. Some orthodontic problems are easier to correct if they’re treated early.
If Dr. Li thinks your child will need treatment, he’ll let you know when it will be best to begin treatment. This gives your orthodontist the best chance to:
- Guide jaw growth
- Improve appearance and self-esteem in your child
- Lower the risk of trauma to protruded front teeth
- Create a more pleasing arrangement of teeth, lips and face
- Correct harmful oral habits
- Guide permanent teeth into a more favorable position
Signs the Bite’s Not Right
It’s not always easy to tell when your child may need braces or has an orthodontic problem. Even teeth that look straight may be hiding a problem bite.
Here are some clues that may indicate the need for orthodontic attention:
- Early or late loss of baby teeth
- Difficulty chewing or bitin
- Jaws that are too far forward or back
- Biting the cheek or biting into the roof of the mouth
- Breathing through the mouth
- Thumb-sucking
- An unbalanced facial appearance
- Grinding or clenching of the teeth
- Crowded, misplaced or blocked-out teeth
- Protruding teeth
- Upper and lower teeth that don’t meet, or meet in an abnormal way
Patient Testimonials
We pride ourselves on creating healthy, beautiful smiles in our “embracing” atmosphere. Don’t just take our word for it; check out what our patients have to say.
FAQ
The American Association of Orthodontists (AAO) recommends you take your child to an orthodontist at age 7. Get in touch with us so your kid can start their early orthodontic treatment in Ann Arbor.
Children orthodontics in Ann Arbor are critical to spot any problems with a child or teenager’s dental development. With proper follow-up from an early age, we will know when your kid actually needs dental braces.
Orthodontics for children aims to guide your kids’ dental development and review that everything is going well. Furthermore, it helps better prepare young patients for when they need braces so the treatment feels more natural and won’t cause much discomfort.
Orthodontics from a young age help with early prevention in Ann Arbor. The treatments help prevent many of the additional complications related to orthodontic problems during the early teenage years.
The earliest at which orthodontics for children can be effective is at age 7 when your kid still has some of their primary teeth and some permanent ones are erupting. From then on, any time is a good time.
As a general rule, you’ll want to keep your child away from sticky, sugary, or hard foods that can increase the risk of tooth decay and damage their orthodontic appliances.
