Recognize and eliminate "developmental disorders".
As an orthodontic practice, we see our role not only in the treatment of “crooked teeth”, but also in the prevention and early detection of anomalies. Preventive measures can already be introduced in the primary dentition and early mixed dentition and consist of Educating parents, recognizing harmful habits and using special therapeutic aids to stop the habits.
Thumb sucking, lip biting and nail biting can lead to misalignment of the jaw and teeth. Parafunctions such as speech, language and swallowing disorders also lead to misalignment of the jaws and/or teeth. Speech errors with “S” and “Z”, “infantile swallowing” and mouth breathing are treated together with speech therapists. Early loss of milk teeth, e.g. due to caries or accidents, requires treatment in most cases.
To prevent your child’s jaw or teeth from developing incorrectly at an early stage, it is recommended that you arrange a first orthodontic check-up at the age of 3.
Children from 3 years
Thumb suckers may look cute, but unfortunately thumbs, fingers, soothers, feeding bottles and Teddy’s ears are foreign objects in the mouth.
Suckers interfere with the normal development of teeth and jaws and cause functional and health problems.
The consequences: open bite, crossbite, protruding teeth, narrow jaw. The child cannot bite properly, lisps and breathes through the mouth instead of the nose and therefore often has a cold.
Early treatment with an oral vestibule plate can help to break these harmful sucking habits.
Children between 4 and 9 years old
The milk teeth are placeholders for the permanent teeth developing underneath them. If a milk molar is lost prematurely, the first permanent molar tips into this gap and prevents the next one from breaking through. This then grows incorrectly later and must either be painstakingly adjusted orthodontically or even extracted. An immediately inserted space maintainer can effectively prevent this tooth position anomaly.
Congenital misaligned teeth or jaws require treatment at an early age. In an open bite, the incisors gape wide apart. Biting off is practically impossible.
An anterior step is caused by the retraction of the lower jaw and protruding upper incisors. With a lateral crossbite, the lower jaw is shifted to one side and the molars bite together incorrectly. In a frontal crossbite, the upper incisors bite behind the lower incisors instead of over them. Early treatment is particularly important in this case to avoid inhibiting the growth of the upper jaw.
