Early Treatment

Seek treatment earlier than age 7 if your child has:
  • Difficulty chewing
  • Open-mouth breathing
  • Thumb or finger sucking
  • Overlapping or crowding of erupting permanent teeth
  • Jaws that click or pop
  • Biting of the cheek or into the roof of the mouth
  • Speech problems
  • Grinding or wearing down of teeth
  • Obvious abnormal bite development of any kind
  • Early or late loss of baby teeth
  • Difficulty in chewing or biting
  • Crowding, misplaced or blocked out teeth
  • Jaws that shift or make sounds
  • Biting the cheek or roof of the mouth
  • Teeth that meet abnormally or not at all
  • Jaws and teeth that are out of proportion to the rest of the face

Warning signs in 7-year-olds

  • Do the upper teeth protrude?
  • Excessive protrusion of the upper front teeth is a very common problem in orthodontics

  • Is there a deep bite?
  • The upper front teeth cover the lower front teeth too much

  • Is there an "underbite" ?
  • The upper teeth fit inside the arch of the lower teeth

  • Is there an open bite?
  • There is a space between upper and lower front teeth when the back teeth are together

  • Is there too little room for the permanent teeth?
  • Crowded upper or lower teeth.

  • Do the front teeth line up?
  • The spaces between the two upper front teeth and the two lower front teeth should line up with each other. If they do not, the probable cause is drifted teeth or a shifted lower jaw.

  • Is there a crossbite?
  • The upper back teeth fit inside of the lowers.