Why Straighten Teeth?

Teeth Straightening

As a parent, you would want to see your children with pearl white, neatly aligned teeth that are strong and healthy too. A straight smile not only elevates your child’s confidence and enhances the aesthetic appearance, but also keeps away many dental ailments.

Sometimes, you might find it difficult to know if your young child’s teeth are coming in the right way. It is essential for your child to have well aligned upper and lower jaw for a properly functioning bite.

Following are the kinds of malocclusions your child may face:

  • Overbite
  • Underbite
  • Cross bite
  • Overcrowded teeth

Straighter teeth help to chew, bite and speak effectively. None of these can be possible when your child’s teeth are crooked. Malocclusions are caused by thumb sucking and other problems.

Dr. Joseph Cheng, DDS., located in Rancho Cucamonga, CA, recommends you to contact our office before your child’s permanent teeth have come in, and jaw and facial growth are almost complete. Otherwise, the possibility to the correct the jaw growth in a positive direction and fix many other problems may be lost.     

We advise you schedule an appointment with us to have an orthodontic evaluation at an early age (7 or before), whether or not a malocclusion is obvious. When the child’s permanent teeth have begun to come in and there are still a few primary teeth are left, an orthodontic evaluation helps make a big difference with little treatment.

There are a few disorders associated with crooked teeth. They are as follows:

A)   Temporomandibular Disorder (TMJ)

TMJ is a painful condition that occurs when a child has improper jaw alignment due to crooked teeth. A child with TMJ faces jaw pain, severe headaches, bruxism and lockjaw.

B)   Uneven wear

Your child’s crooked teeth make some of the teeth apply extra pressure when biting and chewing. Unlike crooked teeth, straight teeth bear uniform workload which reduces the risk of injury. It also promises better aesthetics.

C)   Periodontitis

The bacterial infection caused by inadequate oral hygiene leads to periodontitis. While straight teeth can be easily cleaned and are at lesser risk of developing gum diseases, crooked teeth cannot be cleaned very well which could lead to building up of debris, bacteria and plaque in those portions of the mouth where cleaning is not easy.

D)  Tooth injury

Strong teeth mean lesser injury as they are well aligned to stand like a strong wall. Crooked teeth are often protruded which make them weak and easily vulnerable to external injury.

Crooked teeth can be straightened using simple removable appliances like orthodontic braces or customized aligning trays. Orthodontic braces are fixed to the child’s teeth for a predetermined duration. The orthodontist will tighten the brackets and archwires regularly and remove it when the treatment ends.

Aligning trays are proven to be an effective method for straightening teeth. They are affixed on less severe malocclusions with little gap between the teeth. These trays are removable and are replaced once in a few weeks during the course of treatment.

We recommend you to call our office early for an orthodontic evaluation, while your child’s future smile can be easily fixed and majorly improved.

Office Hours

Monday

9:00am - 6:00pm

Tuesday

8:00am - 5:00pm

Wednesday

7:00am - 5:00pm

Thursday

8:00am - 5:00pm

Friday

8:00am - 2:00pm

Saturday

CLOSED

Sunday

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