orthodontic options for 7 year old?

[Anonymous]

We've been to a few different orthodontists for consultation and they've all said different things--some to pull out baby teeth to make room and wait for treatment later; others to start invisalign early. DS is AuDHD, sensory sensitive, and doesn't like the idea of wires in his mouth.

Any of you had kids who used invisalign at this early age? Metal braces seem like they'll trigger a strong reaction; I'm not sure that we'll be able to adhere to a 22 hour/day invisalign regimen at this point. What did you do for your ASD/ADHD kids?

[Anonymous]

My dd had an orthodontist eval this past fall, she is 9. She is dx asd and has sensory issues-we see a dentist who is great with sn kids and the ortho is in the same office and is also great with our kids. My kid has gone from shrieking every visit, to calmly sitting in the chair!
Anyhow-he says for us to wait. He'll look at her again in a year, but we'll probably wait till 11 or 12. He said in his experience, it can be more tolerable for our kids when they're a bit older. Not worth making them resistant to dental care.

[Anonymous]

Or ortho preferred metal to Invisalign but gave us the choice. We ended up with metal as he said it could be faster as he can adjust them how he wanted to. My child much preferred them now that they are in retainers and the retainer is like invisalign. See if you can try metal if metal is better and if it doesn't work in a few months, switch. Some ortho are flexible. Others are not. It takes a month or two to adjust.

[Anonymous]

What does the dentist say? Ours said orthodontics was unnecessary at that age for my two children.

[Anonymous]

My younger daughter is 8 with a moderate combined adhd and mild autism dx. We are going the metal route. She has an upper palate expander right now. It helps that she wants straighter, less crowded teeth. We keep talking about what we are working towards. She reacted kind of badly to the expander at first. She really struggled to let me turn it at night. I had to switch from doing it at bedtime to turning it right after dinner and giving her a sweet reward. I was eventually able to stop the reward, but we needed some success and less running away. Also, she made a near constant slurping sound for about a week. Three weeks in, the slurping is just occasional. Clearly, having a device in your mouth can mess with your swallowing pattern.

[Anonymous]

OP here--thank you for these helpful responses!

[Anonymous]

Are the orthodontic issues so challenging that they are impeding speech or chewing?

Why not just wait for the teeth to fall out organically, and then reassess for orthodontia at 11 or 12, as a PP said?

Every single kid I've known who has started early has ended up back in orthodontia just as long as those who only did "one phase."

If this is just cosmetic, I'd absolutely recommend waiting.