Parents are often told to wait until their children are 11, 12 or 13 before undergoing orthodontic treatment (correction of crooked teeth). You don?t need to wait until then. In fact, it?s better to start early and correct the underlying causes of the problem. One must understand that Orthodontic techniques are for the correction of-crooked teeth, not muscles. Yet it is the bad habits of the muscles ? especially the lips and tongue ? that cause underdeveloped jaws and malocclusion (crooked or crowded teeth). These myofunctional (muscle) bad habits also produce poor facial appearance. Most people assume that jaw and facial development problems plus crowded or protruding teeth are hereditary.

Well that is true to certain extent but most are the result of myofunctional problems. These myofunctional habits are both preventable and treatable, and at ages much younger than those for orthodontic procedures. The primary causes are mouth breathing, incorrect tongue positioning, incorrect swallowing patterns and overactive mentalis (lip) muscles. These are the myofunctional habits that cause the problems we see with the teeth and jaws. 

Thumb sucking also causes the jaws to grow incorrectly. Children demonstrating any of these habits are most likely to develop crowded teeth and unattractive faces. Once all the permanent teeth are present this incorrect growth of the jaws and the face is more difficult to correct. Extracting teeth does not help. Many children have extractions and braces, but the facial development does not improve because the underlying problems have not been corrected. This may also result in the crowding reoccurring after orthodontic treatment.

Fixed orthodontic braces are designed to straighten teeth and they do that very effectively, but they do not correct myofunctional bad habits - the underlying causes of crooked teeth.

Orthodontic treatment cannot be stable and facial development will be severely compromised unless myofunctional problems are corrected.

Here is a typical story that I hear from parents all the time:

My 7year old girl?s teeth were coming out very crowded. The Dentist told me there was no room for her teeth; they were too big for her jaws. He said, in a few years when the new teeth finish coming, they would take some out and put braces on to straighten the rest. It just didn?t seem right. Why wait so for long and then make her suffer by having her teeth pulled out?

A child at the age of five or six will show signs of incorrect facial growth if they have mouth breathing or tongue thrusting habits. These problems do not ?just go away? and the face will continue to develop incorrectly.

By understanding the potential damage these childhood habits can cause, you can tell which kids will have orthodontic problems and an unattractive face for life.

To get a really good orthodontic result and help our children look as good as possible we need to correct these bad myofunctional habits.

New ?Trainer? systems have been developed which work on the principle of prevention and elimination of bad oral habits

If your child demonstrates any of the following symptoms, ask your Orthodontist about the TRAINER System:

Mouth breathing, thumb sucking, tongue thrusting, teeth crowding, crooked teeth, and protruding teeth

Don?t forget that the face is more visible than the teeth. So, in terms of attractiveness and self-confidence, addressing these issues is very important for the child.