Growth Modifying Appliances

What did orthodontics do before Growth Modifying Appliances?

Previously, it was the norm to begin any orthodontic treatments when patients became teenagers. This was a huge disadvantage for patients because waiting this long often resulted in extracting permanent teeth. This is due to the way our mouths mature into adulthood. The roof of your mouth, known as a palate, is a bone that develops in two separate pieces with a soft spot in the middle of your mouth.  As a person enters puberty, these two pieces of bone join together and form one solid bone, making orthodontic treatment a lot more difficult.

Once this bone permanently forms and all adult teeth are grown in, there is limited space to create an ideal smile and tooth extraction was one of the only solutions. Our teeth help give us a full-looking face, so extracting teeth causes the face to sag.

Today’s Innovations with Growth Modifying Appliances

Today, Dr. Andrew Wade and the rest of the team at Wade Orthodontics are excited to begin patients in orthodontic treatment at an early age to ensure their fullest potential in a gorgeous smile is achieved. With the help of our variety of growth modifying appliances, we can start correcting your teeth, jaw and palate early on before these issues become problematic. We offer palate expanders, head gears, face masks and so much more to help adjust jaws into the proper position. This is the beginning of your journey to a straight, full smile.

Your Child’s First Steps in Orthodontics

We determine your child’s growth by taking hand-wrist growth x-rays on female patients at age nine and male patients at age 11. The way a wrist bone develops and palates develop are very similar and typically fuse at the same time. Your child’s hand-wrist x-rays are a clear indicator of how the palate is growing and allows our team to determine an orthodontic treatment plan that is timed accordingly. 

Even if your child does need a growth modifying appliance, orthodontic treatment at a young age has numerous benefits. Teeth in children are much more moved to their ideal position compared to that of adults. When your child’s teeth are moved into proper position before their palate fully develops, their teeth are much less likely to move in adulthood as opposed to when teeth are moved after they complete puberty.

Begin your child’s orthodontic journey today

Our team is highly experienced in providing the best in growth modifying appliances to our patients. We will meet with you and your child and explain the benefits of this quintessential step in achieving a beautiful smile that will last a lifetime. If you have any questions or would like to get started, please call us at (614) 451-7555.