Baby Teeth and Braces

Baby teeth are crucial for laying down the foundations of good adult teeth. They create and maintain space for future teeth to come into, so making sure your children have good oral health habits from the beginning is very important. 

Over the years, baby teeth will naturally fall out, however, when a child prematurely loses teeth from trauma or decay, the space that was made for the adult tooth may be lost, causing them to descend into the wrong space or not at all. On the other hand, your child’s baby teeth may remain for too long, again, causing the adult tooth to come through in the wrong position. 

Typically children will have around 20 baby teeth. The first ones start to fall out around 6 years old and the last should fall out by the time your child is 12. Timeframes will vary, naturally, however, they should fall out in order- starting with the front baby teeth and then eventually the back teeth.

It’s not necessary to to wait until all baby teeth are gone before your child visits the orthodontist. In fact, the Australian Society of Orthodontics recommends that children visit the orthodontist when they’re 7. This allows us to establish a strong relationship and understanding of how your child’s teeth grow, so they can have the best possible orthodontic treatment and results. 

Your child could need braces for a number or reasons, including:

• Overbites
• Underbites
• Crossbite
• Crowded or spaced teeth
• Other tooth or jaw problems

Not all your children’s baby teeth need to be gone to start the braces process, however, further treatment may be required after the rest of the baby teeth are gone and adult teeth. If you think your child needs orthodontic treatment, get in touch with Dr Tony Weir.