When a child begins growing their permanent teeth, their care for their smile will ensure that they come into place in a healthy manner. Though genetics play a major role in their alignment, they can take precautions to help their teeth grow straighter.
Crooked teeth can impact the appearance of a smile, but they could also pose a risk to their oral health. Read on to learn three methods that you can employ to prevent misalignment in your child’s teeth.
How Can I Protect the Alignment of My Child’s Teeth?
Stop Poor Oral Habits
Young children can pick up habits that can be difficult to break. If a child sucks their thumb, bites their nails, or tugs at their lip with their teeth, these could impact their oral health in the long run.
Thumb sucking and similar habits can tug the top arch of teeth forward, creating an overbite. This may also cause the teeth to shift, creating gaps or overlapping in the teeth.
When kids are growing their adult teeth, this continued behavior could lead to permanent misalignment. This dental concern will need intervention from a dentist to amend. You can ask a pediatric dentist for advice in stopping these oral habits in children before they cause this type of dental damage.
Practice Good Oral Hygiene
As soon as children begin growing their first baby teeth, they must begin practicing oral hygiene to keep their smiles healthy. When they start growing adult teeth, this regimen can preserve the alignment of their smiles.
If plaque lingers on teeth, the teeth can sustain lasting damage, including cavities and gum disease. These dental issues can affect the structure of the teeth and gums. This may mean that teeth can alter their positions in the mouth and become crooked.
To keep your child’s teeth healthy and in their desired position, they should practice good oral hygiene habits. These should include brushing teeth twice a day and flossing on a daily basis.
Visit the Dentist Regularly
A proper oral hygiene regimen should also feature routine visits to the dentist for teeth cleanings and oral health exams. The dentist can check their smiles for early signs of dental problems and provide prompt and essential preventative dental care during these appointments.
These regular visits to the dentist can allow an ample opportunity to address questions and concerns about your child’s smile too. If teeth begin to grow crooked, your dentist can recognize the issue quickly and intervene if needed to keep their smiles healthy and aligned.
Teeth misalignment is sometimes unavoidable thanks to genetics and other factors outside of a patient’s control. Many dental professionals recommend early intervention when it comes to straightening teeth.
Your pediatric dentist can recommend orthodontic solutions like spacers, expanders, and braces to help realign your child’s smile. Teeth will fuse into place as they get older, so this prompt treatment can make it easier to fix malocclusions. The dentist can develop a treatment plan after a dental evaluation and consultation appointment.