How Braces Help Kids in Gaining Confidence?
What Are Braces?
They are teeth aligners that rotate and move teeth to straighten them. Braces are oral appliances for conducting orthodontic treatments in dentistry. They come in different forms and shapes, featuring materials like metal, ceramic or special plastics.
In pediatric dentistry, metal braces are the most common type of braces. They feature metal brackets and wires that wrap around teeth. The dentist will fix the brackets and wires to individual teeth to guide their movements slowly throughout a treatment.
How Do Braces Work?
Braces work by shifting teeth crowns and roots gradually to adopt a straight alignment on the jawbone. The process capitalizes on controlled pressure. To begin, an orthodontist will customize an aligner that tightly secures each tooth. Once in place, it will apply consistent pressure over a particular period until the tooth starts moving. After a few weeks, the dentist has to adjust the aligners to guide the movement of teeth each step of the way. Such a process takes many months to complete before each tooth secures an ideal position in the jawbone.
The reason teeth can move positions is due to bone tissue disintegration. The bone tissue supporting the tooth in its initial position disintegrates to allow swift movements. After the tooth shifts, a different process of bone tissue regeneration begins. The replacement bone tissue will form in the new position of your teeth to hold them in place. The entire process should take between 6 and 18 months. However, after wearing braces, you need other aligners called retainers to help hold your teeth in position during the bone tissue regeneration process.
Do All Children Need Braces?
Although braces in Lancaster, SC, are incredible for transforming children’s smiles, not all of them need them. Children only need to undergo orthodontic treatments to correct underlying alignment problems they may have developed over the years. Some of the circumstances surrounding braces use in Lancaster pediatric dentistry are:
- Crooked teeth – occur when teeth grow improperly facing the wrong direction.
- An overcrowded mouth – is typical when children have very big teeth that cannot fit properly in the jaw’s arcs. It can also occur if kids have more teeth in the mouth than should be the case. It is common when kids experience delays in pulling out baby teeth so that they have both baby and adult teeth simultaneously.
- Spaces between teeth – your child does not need a kids’ dentist near you only when they have lost their natural teeth. Sometimes your child can have spaces between teeth that are unconnected to losing natural teeth. Typically, the spaces develop due to misaligned jaws that cause teeth to protrude and space out unevenly.
- Improper bites – a proper bite is when your upper and lower arcs of the jaw align correctly. When either arc protrudes forward over the other, you have an improper bite. Some types of bites that a kids’ dentist in 29720 can correct with braces are overbite, underbite, and crossbite.
How Do Braces Affect Kids’?
If a dentist in a pediatric dental office in Lancaster recommends braces for your child’s treatment, embrace them because they significantly impact oral health. Some of the ways that orthodontic treatment with braces affects children are:
- Optimal functionality – improper bites significantly deteriorate oral function. Dr. Leonardo Koerich in Kids First Dental – Lancaster has found that many children suffer from dental pain and other oral complications because of oral misalignment. Correcting the straightness of teeth improves pronunciation, speech, and eating.
- Reduced oral injuries – crooked teeth and a crowded mouth can be the leading reason to visit an emergency pediatric dentist in Lancaster every couple of weeks. When teeth are not well aligned, kids incur many mouth sores and wounds because of biting themselves repeatedly.
- Boosts their self-confidence – a beautiful smile can epitomize self-confidence since it is the first thing someone sees when you open your mouth.
- Good oral hygiene – it is much easier to clean teeth that are well aligned. Many people with crooked teeth or a crowded mouth have plaque and tartar behind some of their teeth because they are hard to reach with regular tooth brushing. After orthodontic treatment, your child will no longer suffer from bad breath due to difficulties with good oral hygiene.