At a recent continuing education course on pediatric sleep and orthodontics, the speaker (Marianna Evans DDS, Orthodontist, Periodontist) recommended every child have an orthodontic evaluation well before age 6 or 7. The AAO (American Association of Orthodontics) recommends no later than age 7. This is because the jaw has completed the majority of it’s growth by age 4 and 80% of it’s growth by age 6. Evans actually said she prefers to see infants in order to educate and coach parents–even by age 2 there are already things showing up that could have been prevented. Kevin Boyd–a well known pediatric dentist/orthodontist in Chicago–added and joked that he refers to his patients over the age of 7 as his “geriatric patients.”
A dental office is an excellent place to start early evaluations and referrals. These referrals might be to an orthodontist, myofunctional therapist, allergist, sleep specialist, ENT, or other. Often times, it takes a combination of specialists working together to get the answers and results most desirable.
Notice: Some dental offices and specialists are not as aware of some of these concerns or do not feel they are a concern at all–I would recommend finding an office that IS concerned with these things–let me know if you need help finding a specialist that is in line with your concerns.
The purpose of early referrals–to any of the above specialists–is to promote ideal growth and development (rather than the wait and see approach).
Why wait to see what happens and then fix it when you could have intervened earlier and prevented it or at least lessened the severity in the first place?
We need to get these kiddos the help they need at a young age–whether that be addressing allergies, non nutritive sucking habits, large tonsils/adenoids, mouth breathing, small jaws, or other things in order to help them be the best little they can be! A few things we want are: wide/broad jaws, clear and “open” airways, proper tongue posture, and nasal breathing.
These early interventions could help prevent many health issues in childhood and as an adult including attention concerns, behavior issues, mental health issues, snoring, sleep disordered breathing, sleep apnea—-the list goes on!
If you need help finding a professional or specialist in any of these areas please contact us!
Signs that an early specialist referral may be warranted:
- lack of space between the baby teeth (they shouldn’t be touching!)
- crowded/rotated teeth
- gummy smile
- worn/flattened teeth
- malocclusion (teeth not lined up in an ideal way)
- mouth breathing or open mouth posture (Nasal Breathing vs Mouth Breathing)
- chronic congestion
- diagnosed (or suspected) asthma/allergies
- sleep concerns: snoring, moving around a lot, open mouth/mouth breathing, drooling, pauses in breathing or gasping, noisy breathing, daytime hyperactivity, falls asleep often, grinding teeth, prolonged bed wetting, excessive sweating
- non nutritive sucking habits–paci, digits, other
- tongue tie or lip tie
- eating concerns: difficulty breathing while eating, chewing with mouth open, overly messy, eating excessively slow or fast, needing to drink a lot of liquids while eating, avoiding certain foods/textures, coughing/choking while eating, hyperactive gag reflex, digestive issues–gas, acid reflux, stomach aches
Read about Hannah’s myofunctional therapy journey and why she wishes she had early referrals/interventions as a young child.