Orthodontist wants to wait for tween to stop growing. Is that normal?
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Anonymous
This is nonsense. My 15 year old just had braces put on for the first time. The ortho said IF his jaw grew enough (and it did, he's 6'2, he would only need braces on for 18 months instead of several years. |
Anonymous
True, but few orthodontists will tell parents this. |
Anonymous
But often kids who get braces very young wind up doing a second round in their teen years. Which makes sense if there is crowding or issues with the size of the mouth, I guess. But for straightening only? This looks like a money grab to me, doing braces early when teeth are still shifting and settling (and when it's going to be very hard to get a kid to reliably wear their retainer afterwards) and then of course they shift back and oops, we have to do a second round. The pliability of young kids mouths is honestly an argument against early braces. My kids teeth moved A LOT between 6 and 12, mostly for the better with teeth sort of straightening out on their own as adult teeth all came in and kind of pushed adjacent teeth into alignment. One of her first adult teeth came in at an insane angle and I thought it was going to be a big problem, and then when the tooth next to it finally fell out and the adult tooth came in, it rotated into almost a perfectly straight position. She still got braces from 12-13 but it was less dramatic than I thought it was going to be initially and by the time she got them off, she was responsible enough to take care of her retainer, wear it every night. She also already had good oral hygiene by then, so dealing with flossing and brushing while she had braces was easier I think. Just my two cents. I think this shift to braces on very young kids is misguided and likely driven by orthodontists wanting to get parents on the hook earlier and for longer. |
Anonymous
Oh come on, DS is 12 and we have done several consultations and have been told to wait each time - because he still has a number of baby teeth. Looks like he will finally be getting them in January, 3 months before turning 13 and a possible 18 month timeline. He may or may not have them still in high school. So don't assume all parents are lazy about going in. |
Anonymous
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My son’s teeth came in quite straight. His dentist wanted to wait until his last permanent tooth came in. At 13.5 it’s finally done. He may need a short course of braces for slight correction but they said it’s fine to wait until he grows a bit more. My brother and I both were able to skip them so that’s a factor. |
Anonymous
Both my kids have been going since 8 and the older one started treatment at 13.5. She was slow to lose teeth, even with 2 being pulled. They had her in every 6 months and asked me about puberty etc each time (because she needed her lower jaw moved and there is a certain point when it fuses and would require surgery). We are 9 months in and expander and other appliance came out and probably will only have braces another 6-8 months. They look to be following a similar timeline for my younger one too. Meanwhile some of her friends are on round two of braces with the same ortho so I suspect it’s child specific. |
Anonymous
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Our orthodontist told us to wait till adult teeth were out (and she wasn't pushy about getting them pulled). That meant my oldest was 13. She also had a ton of movement in her teeth and jaw (and now has a large overbite) when she hit her growth spurt, so much so that the ortho told me we need to wait till puberty with my younger kids because the same thing may happen to them.
She said that this is somewhat genetic, and some kids have a large change in teeth and jaw in puberty, and some don't. She doesn't think it's worth it to fix teeth that may change so dramatically. IDK if this is the right call. We saw another ortho who wanted to pull a ton of teeth and get all of my kids on palate expanders. That put me off, as I'd rather less intervention in general. But I have no idea who is right. |
Anonymous
| No, ours wanted all the baby teeth out and adult teeth in. Get another opinion. |
Anonymous
Of course high schoolers have braces, there are many good reasons that they do. I have three kids with three very different experiences with dental care in general. |
Anonymous
| For my son’s particular issues they recommended waiting until he was through his major growth spurt and took X-rays of growth plates to confirm. He had braces for about 18 months and got them off right before his 16th birthday (lucky for him he grew early). Ortho said if we did it earlier there was a good chance he’d be back in braces again in high school anyway. Same man has put braces on my friends much younger kids so I really think it depends on the specific things they are trying to fix. He also told us our other kid’s teeth were just fine as is so I feel like he’s giving us the straight scoop (as opposed to other orthos who are happy to put your kid in braces twice!) |
Anonymous
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We did a phase 1 with an ortho at age 10. Teeth look pretty good but not perfect now at 12 (just got braces off 4 months ago). Ortho was pushing to move right into phase 2 right after phase 1. I felt like it was a money grab. I did see the reasoning for phase 1 early in my child’s case. But he hasn’t had his major growth spurt yet. I mentioned waiting until his face is more adult, and they were very dismissive. Not sure why it would even be called phase 2 if it happens right after. For my elder son, they recommended waiting a year in between, which made sense.
I’m going to look for a couple opinions to see time and cost. Of course, meanwhile DS is pushing to get it over with so he won’t have braces in high school. Who knows. |
Anonymous
| We had a terrible experience with the first ortho (Heller, if you’re wondering) and deliberately shopped around. I was clear with them all during their free consults that we were exploring our options. They were all accepting of it. Don’t be afraid to shop for multiple opinions. |
Anonymous
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It’s why my kid did! He still had adult molars that hadn’t come through at age 16–17. Lost baby teeth late.
He’s 17 and a HS Senior and just started in Invisalign. Thus way he will finish before college. Predict 6 months. He still has one 2nd molar not fully in- but everything else finally is. One never erupted molar was removed surgically since there was a hole/decay still under the gum line. He was a late grower—still growing. He did have a palate expander in middle school. |
Anonymous
^ and yes it would have been stupid yo start before jaw grew |
Anonymous
Mine was told indefinitely. |