To create a healthy smile, a child’s teeth need to be straight and their jaws need to be aligned properly. That’s why it’s a good idea to have an orthodontist examine your child while they still have some of their baby teeth. By age seven, enough permanent teeth have emerged to evaluate relationships developing between the teeth, the jaw, and bite patterns for your child’s pediatric dentist to make sure everything in the mouth will continue to develop as it should. If early interceptive treatment is deemed necessary, it will occur in two phases. The first phase will begin right away, while the primary (baby) teeth are still present. The second phase will happen as your child gets older, at the appropriate time determined by your child’s growth and development, usually as a teenager.
