How Braces Help Improve Your Child’s Oral Health

Braces can be an excellent choice for your child, especially if they face severe misalignment that impacts their ability to speak, eat, or engage with the world properly. Luckily, your pediatric dentists and family dentists are here to help inform you on why you should consider getting your child braces, what braces are like, and what it means for your child to have braces as a part of their life.

How Do Braces Improve Your Child’s Oral Health?

Investing in your child’s oral health means going beyond your child’s smile and into the future. Braces are an incredibly effective way of managing uncontrollable bites. Braces have become one of the most recommended treatments among pediatric and orthodontic dentists for children due to their numerous benefits. If your child has been diagnosed with orthodontic issues, here are our selective reasons why we recommend getting your child braces:

• Braces Protect Their Teeth: Crooked teeth are often more susceptible to accidents and injuries. If they protrude a certain way, your child won’t be able to close their lips properly and cover their teeth, which means that accidents can occur in sports or other activities. Straighter teeth are less prone to these problems and can help protect your child from dental injuries.
• Braces Correct Speech Problems: Depending on the type of protrusion, your child may face issues pronouncing certain words and can even develop a lisp. These speech problems can affect your child in the long run with self-esteem issues. Braces can help prevent the possibility of lisps occurring and help correct their speech problems.
• Braces Prevent Jawbone Erosion: Any gaps between your child’s teeth will affect your child’s jawbone and gums in time, causing the bones to erode due to bacteria exposure and lead to tooth loss. Giving your child braces can help them avoid this issue and help prevent them from getting TMJ disorder.
• Braces Help Avoid Gum Disease: Gum disease is often a leading problem for those with misaligned teeth, as the misalignments can create areas of plaque that form easily along the gumline. This leads to chronic, long-term inflammation around the gums and, eventually, pain. Braces can be used to prevent this issue from ever occurring and can protect their teeth from the effects of bright, swollen gums.
• Braces Save Money in The Long Run: These gaps and areas of misalignment can lead to more costs for your child’s teeth in the future. You’re helping save their teeth from decay and saving money in your pocket by getting them braces.

Be Proactive With Your Child’s Oral Health Today

When it comes to pediatric dental care, you need to take them to regular visits for dental checkups so our team can see if there are any problems with their teeth and jawline. Starting treatment will help ensure that your child has a healthy smile for life, so schedule an appointment with your local pediatric dentist as soon as possible for treatment. Contact your pediatric dentist early to give your child a smile they can be confident to show. 

In recent years, the rise of mental health awareness has brought attention to the rising cases of mental health disorders among adolescents. Children with emotional disorders often struggle with dental treatment, especially if they face feelings of fear or being out of control in a clinical environment. However, a new subsect of dentistry is emerging to help dentists address these problems head-on and help children get the care they need, and that’s emotional dentistry. 

Challenges of Emotional Disorders and Emotional Dentistry

Children with emotional disorders face significant challenges, as children with these disorders tend to have poor oral health. Due to their conditions, it can be more difficult for children to get the treatment they need. Emotional disorders such as anxiety, ADHD, PTSD, and OCD can create challenging and difficult behaviors that impede their ability to receive dental treatment. 

The links between mental health and dental health are clear – when one area of our health falters, other areas will likely follow. But how can dentists work to help negate these problems and bring more care to their patients? For pediatric dentists, some have begun working with emotional dentistry, also known as empathy dentistry, to address their concerns and fears with emotional support. 

Emotional dentistry is twofold. It addresses cosmetic concerns related to a person’s smile and addresses the patient’s overall well-being in one neat package. It works with effective communication and empathy skills to achieve proper dental care. For children, this means that during times when they are afraid, they can express their fears, and their pediatric dentist can work with them to support and uplift them by understanding their emotions.

By working with their patients and understanding their mental health better, dentists can effectively provide the following: 

• Listening Skills: Giving children the chance to engage in two-way conversations can allow them to express their concerns more clearly. It can be used to help them through their anxieties and allows your pediatric dentist to provide positive acknowledgment for their words. 
• Empathetic Thinking: In taking the time to listen, dentists can work to address issues upfront and create a more positive setting for the patient, which includes ways to avoid triggering any negative emotions and experiences and helping children respond differently to the dental setting. 
• Empathetic Feeling: Lastly, feeling empathy allows the dentist to express greater understanding and relate to their patients, including children. If the child is afraid of the dentist due to the idea of the drill and tools, then it’s a perfectly understandable fear. 

Face Emotional Challenges With Your Pediatric Dentist 

Through these skills, emotional dentistry provides pediatric and family dentists with a gateway for making meaningful progress with their patients. Signs of emotional disorders, special needs, and medically compromised individuals need dental care like everyone else, and the best way for children to get the care they deserve most is through a pediatric dentist. Through your pediatric dentist, you can make sure that your child gets the best care possible with the help of a compassionate and professional team.