Ross Orthodontics

Ortho TIDBIT:

Dr. Ross's office is located at Azaela Lakes Professional Park at 3508 Caduceus Dr. between 544 and 707 just off Highway 17 bypass. For additional information or detailed directions, please contact us.

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Early Warning Signs

If you have a child between 7 and 11 years old, this information may be of help to you. Often children within a family will exhibit certain predictable patterns of growth in much the same way they inherit similar eye and hair color. Like other family traits, particular patterns of tooth and jaw development also "run in the family."

As a preventive orthodontic office, we like to examine children by the age of 7, in some cases sooner, if a problem is apparent. By making use of early interceptive methods and by taking advantage of your child's growing years, some orthodontic problems can be eliminated or minimized. For example, in children where the jaws are small and crowding of the permenant teeth is evident, space can often be created instead of having permenant teeth removed. In addition, jaw or skeletal discrepanices such as an overbite can be corrected while growth is the most active, so as to create a more favorable facial balance for your child. Waiting until growth is complete may cause compromises in these vital areas.

We frequently find that parents feel they do not need to have younger children examined by us unless their general dentist recommends it. Sometimes your family dentist may not recognize the same problems that we do, any more than we would not recognize some of the problems that they look for in general dentistry.

With these facts in mind, we welcome your children for an examination so that we can give your family the maximum orthodontic care they deserve. In the interest of prevention, we will schedule your observation visits at no charge.

Five Warning Signs for Early Treatment

1. Do the upper teeth protrude more than 7mm?	A good measure is to have your child bite on their back teeth and see if your small finger can fit behind the top teeth. If so, studies show that this will worsen with time, making it much more difficult to correct at age 15 or beyond. Also, the risk of damage to protruding teeth of this magnitude is almost one in three.
2. Is there a crossbite?	If any of the upper front teeth or back top teeth fit into the inside of the lower teeth, there will be a "locking effect" which may alter future growth and development of the face or teeth.
3. Are there any habits causing an open bite?	Finger or thumb-sucking or muscle imbalances (tongue thrusting) can affect tooth eruption and alter or "warp" normal bone growth. When growth slows or stops in the early teens, conventional orthodontic treatment may not be able to correct the problem.
4. Is there severe crowding?	Narrow jaws or large teeth may be the cause. Expansion is easily accomplished before age 12 but can be difficult after this time. Sometimes extraction of certain teeth can alleviate the severity of the crowding before all of the teeth erupt.
5. Is there an asymmetry? (do the midlines line up?)	Teeth are often like a few books on a bookshelf. If they aren't supported by bookends, they will fall to one side. Once more permenant teeth erupt, it may be difficult to recenter the front teeth. Sometimes there is disproportionate growth leading to a bony asymmetry.

If this information page does not cover your concerns, please feel free to call our office.