Your child’s smile may warm every inch of your heart, but misalignments, gaps, and similar imperfections can cause them to be self-conscious.

Even worse, these problems can make your child more prone to tooth decay, as debris hides in those gaps between teeth. These issues may also cause speech problems and difficulty eating certain foods.

We emphasize early orthodontic intervention at Heights Orthodontics, serving Sterling Heights, MI, and the nearby region. Early orthodontic treatment not only discourages future complications, but it prevents the challenges older adolescents often face with misalignments, gaps, and more, greatly improving their self-confidence.

Why intervene early

Originally, children received braces around the middle school years, usually around ages 12-13. Nowadays, with technological advancements, we can intervene sooner, sometimes as young as six or seven, which provides several benefits.

While it’s certainly possible to wait and correct issues later in your child’s life or even into adulthood, early detection and intervention will lead to the most effective outcome.

Because your child’s jaw is pliable while still young, the straightening process may proceed more quickly and with fewer difficulties.

Early intervention makes your child less likely to need surgery or tooth extraction later because we address problems in their infancy before they become major concerns.

By opting for orthodontic treatment at this age, we can guide the jaw bone’s growth and development, allowing permanent teeth to grow correctly.

What issues we correct

Early pediatric orthodontic treatments can correct the following:

• Extremely crowded teeth
• Widely spaced teeth
• An abnormal number of teeth
• Teeth that don’t meet or meet oddly
• Prolonged pacifier, bottle/sippy cup, finger, or thumb sucking habit that affected the jaw growth or teeth
• Crossbites – when either some of the top front or back teeth fit inside the bottom ones
• Underbite – when the lower front teeth sit in front of the upper front teeth

Orthodontic treatment options

Once you bring your child in for a visit, we’ll provide them with a thorough assessment to identify any problematic areas. We’ll evaluate their bite and the position of their teeth. At this point, we may recommend your child receive a dental X-ray.

Our orthodontist will then decide if your child needs any correction. If necessary, we’ll take an impression of the teeth to prepare your child’s treatment.

One option might be standard braces, which consist of brackets and wires that apply pressure to shift the teeth into their desired positions.

We may suggest clear braces. These work in the same manner as standard braces but use tooth-colored brackets and wires, usually consisting of a material such as ceramic or porcelain rather than metal.

Your dentist may also offer Invisalign for children as young as six — a treatment option known as Invisalign First. For this treatment, the child wears the aligners daily for a certain number of hours. The aligners place pressure on the teeth, moving them to the desired position.

The aligners are switched out every one to two weeks to align teeth continuously.

Heights Orthodontics starts seeing patients right around the time they begin losing their teeth, which can help to avoid problems and spare kids from having to deal with braces or aligners when they get to a more self-conscious age. Early orthodontic intervention can also make the treatment more effective, along with other benefits.

Want to see if this could be a solution for your child? Contact us today for an appointment!

• Call us at: 586-250-0808
• Email us at: office@heights-ortho.com

Heights Orthodontics is located in Sterling Heights, MI, but we’re happy to accept patients from neighboring cities like Roseville, Warren, Fraser, Troy, Madison Heights, Mount Clemens, and Clawson.