Is your child snoring? Is your child breathing with their mouth open? Do they feel blocked a lot of the time? These are signs that that’s not normal for a child. Early intervention can start really young. If you notice that there’s something not quite right about your child, please bring them in and we’re happy to have a look.
We do offer free orthodontic assessment and also, you know, having said that, we do offer free Invisalign consultations as well. But things to look out for. Is your child snoring? Is your child breathing with their mouth open? Do they feel blocked a lot of the time? These are signs that that’s not normal for a child. It’s not normal for them to snore. It’s not normal for them to grind their teeth in the night. It’s not normal for them to sleep with their mouths open. That means that there is an issue with the airway and that can in turn affect how their jaws are going to grow.
Aside from that, it also affects their health in general. They don’t get good quality sleep. They’ll be more tired in the morning. They’re harder to wake up. Not able to concentrate at school. So if you bring them in, we may be able to direct you in the right direction. We can write you a referral to an ear, nose and throat specialist that will be able to assess and see if there’s anything that needs to be done.
You can discuss it with your GP as well. You know, some GPs are fully aware of what goes on and how that can affect the child if there’s an airway problem. Some GPs may not be very familiar with it, so if you’ve got concerns, we’re happy to discuss. When we talk about intervention orthodontically, sometimes we can give your child a small appliance that they would wear 20 minutes a day. It’s called a Myobrace. That can improve the structure of the jaws. It depends on the case.
Sometimes they need a bit more intervention, and usually that’s between the age of seven and nine. That’s the ideal time to start with other appliances that help the jaw to grow and maybe even partial braces to make space for the adult teeth to come through. So if you feel your child, aside from the breathing issues, if you can see that maybe there’s a gap in their front teeth where maybe they’re thumb sucking and their front teeth don’t meet together, please bring them in and we’ll have a look. If you feel like there’s a lot of crowding, meaning their baby teeth are not straight or even if they are straight and they’re very close together, again, that’s not normal.
We do want baby teeth to have gaps between because that means that there’ll be enough space for the adult teeth to come through. I get a lot of comments from moms saying, oh, you know, why are the adult teeth so messy when their baby teeth were so perfectly aligned? That’s typical. You know, we see a child and they’ve got perfectly aligned baby teeth with no gaps. We know that there’s probably gonna be a space issue of the adult teeth.
So if you’re concerned, come and see us. Look out for snoring, grinding, issues with breathing, crowding of the teeth, funny gaps between the teeth, child’s not able to bite or chew properly or you feel like something is not quite right, we’re more than happy to help.