Our paediatric and juvenile dentistry clinic in Barcelona does both: we treat and take care of preventing oral health problems for kids and adolescents, and we offer the services of a team of specialized children and teenager orthodontists able to prevent and guide the growing process of kids since they are babies until they become young adults, going through all the changes that take place during growing.
Children’s orthodontics is a dental area that prevents, studies, diagnoses and treats problems related to the form, position, function and relationships between teeth and jawbones. These type of problems are usually treated with dental appliances for children, such as dental removable appliances (which many people call “on and off orthodontic appliances”, braces or invisible orthodontics) aimed to improve the oral function, gum and dental health, the esthetic condition and, also, relieve the pressure on the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) if this is a problem. These are reasons why it is so important to visit the paediatric dentist or orthodontist who will evaluate at an early stage the proper development of children’s jaws and teeth position.
The appropriate age to start an orthopedic or orthodontic treatment will depend on the case. The approach of a malocclusion problem should be personalized and adapted to the patient. Every problem is different and its treatment should be decided depending on the pathology rather than the age. Sometimes, there is a tendency to believe an orthodontic treatment should only start after complete eruption of permanent teeth, but this is not true, as many problems at that age cannot be solved any longer.
The duration of an orthopedic or orthodontic treatment in children is never fixed, as it will depend on the type of malocclusion and growth of the patient, and, therefore, it is specific and particular to each case. The paediatric dentist or orthodontist will analyze the case of each child or teenager with pictures and molds of both dental arches, photographs, digital radiographs, and after studying it through an orthodontic program, will be able to establish an estimated treatment time. We should also take into consideration the length of the treatment to establish the price of the orthodontic treatment.
Invisible orthodontics uses a series of transparent or invisible positioners-aligners, normally acrylic removable plates, extremely esthetic and comfortable, that will help to correct children's, teen's or young adult's dental malocclusion problems.
Lingual braces are applied to the internal area of teeth in such a way that they are not visible from outside of the mouth. This is the reason why they may be a possible esthetic solution for an orthodontic treatment, although not a comfortable one.
The appliances to correct the jaw for children and teenagers, included in what is called “functional or interceptive orthodontics”, are appliances to modify the position or development of the jaw related to the upper jawbone.
Traditional orthodontic treatments with conventional or transparent braces have evolved, being nowadays smaller, lighter, and with a lower amount of metal compared to the past. These facts make them an efficient and better cost option to correct teeth position.
