Every parent really wants their child to be as healthy as possible. One way to do that is for your child to have lovely, strong, straight teeth. You may be wondering how soon is too soon for orthodontic treatment.

Orthodontic Evaluation

Experts suggest that getting your child's mouth evaluated to see if they need any kind of orthodontic assistance is good. The recommendation is that your child should see an orthodontist before they are 7. The orthodontist will look for things like overcrowding of the teeth, overbites, underbites, and crossbites. The dentist will also be able to tell you if your child will likely need to get any teeth extracted or not. 

Orthodontic Devices

Most kids aren't going to really need braces the first time they get evaluated for orthodontics. However, for the kids who are going to need the work, it should be pretty obvious that it's going to be necessary, if for no other reason than it will give later orthodontic treatments a good foundation to work from. As a parent, you may not see the same obvious signs that your orthodontist does, but they should be able to show you where the problems are on X-rays of your child's mouth, as well as pointing out any serious problem spots right in your child's mouth. 

Treatments to deal with any severe problems at this point can include things like getting a spreader placed in the top of your child's mouth to help open up their mouth so that there will be more room for other teeth to grow in. 

If your child doesn't need to get braces or other devices quite that early because their orthodontic issues aren't that severe, then your child may have a couple of years before they will need something like braces. Your child may actually only need partial braces so that only the necessary teeth are moved around. Doing that kind of treatment, and doing it early, can help to keep any problems from getting worse. When it comes to teeth, the earlier the treatment, the better the results are. 

The answer to the question of how young is too young for braces really depends on your child's orthodontic problems. Your toddler may be too young for braces, but they aren't necessarily too young for an orthodontist like Alegre Dental and Braces to take a look at their mouth to see if they are going to need to have any kind of treatment in the future.