Orthodontics for Kids

Beautiful Smiles, Straight Teeth, Healthy Jaw Joints

Parents want their children to be treated as soon as problems arise. They do not want treatment to be delayed until all the permanent teeth erupt and costs could escalate. Early treatment minimizes the time that children need to wear braces and is the treatment of choice. The ideal time for treatment is any time after age 4 when problems such as narrow jaws, a thumb sucking habit, mouth breathing or malformed jaws are recognized. Since ninety percent of the face is developed by age 12, we must treat early in order to guide the growth of our younger patients. If treatment is delayed until all the permanent teeth erupt, this increases the incidence of extractions. It has been Dr. Maryam Bakhtiyari's experience that almost all children can be treated with non extraction and no headgear.

Patient comfort and education are the priorities of the office. Dr. Maryam Bakhtiyari and her staff also treat many patients with head, neck and facial pain. For the apprehensive patient, a thorough understanding of the proposed treatment plan can eliminate any pretreatment nervousness.

Dr. Maryam Bakhtiyari treats many patients with orthodontic and TMJ (Jaw joint) problems. Many patients are delighted when they find a solution to their children's headache, ear ache, neck ache, dizziness, ADHD, hyperactivity, allergy and sleep issue's. Many of the above problems can be related to jaw problems. In many cases, the lower jaw is not in the correct position in relation to the upper jaw which causes muscle spasms with resultant painful symptoms.

For her younger orthodontic patients, Dr. Maryam Bakhtiyari prefers Two Phase Treatment. First, all functional problems including mouth breathing, snoring, jaw joint problems, and habits such as thumb sucking or tongue thrusts, are treated immediately. Any skeletal (bone) problems such as narrow jaws or underdeveloped jaws are also treated with functional appliances. Recessive or underdeveloped chins are consistently moved forward with functional appliances while the patient is still growing. This is more preferable than waiting until the permanent teeth erupt and surgically moving the lower jaw forward. Once the arches are developed in Phase One and all the permanent teeth erupt, braces may be utilized to straighten the teeth in Phase Two. The combination of these two phases of treatment ensures beautiful faces, full lips, outstanding profiles and healthy happy lives.

Dr. Maryam Bakhtiyari's philosophy is to treat patients early with arch development appliances so you can solve many of the problems before the permanent teeth erupt. This approach ensures that the majority of her patients can be treated without the extraction of permanent teeth and non- surgically. Her objective is to help patients achieve straight profiles, healthy jaw joints and beautiful, broad smiles for their children.

Early Treatment

Early Treatment Is Key
It is critical to correct any jaw problems as soon as they are diagnosed. Functional Appliances provide children with improved appearance and speech.

FACIAL DEVELOPMENT
Seventy-five per cent of 12 year olds need orthodontic treatment. Yet 90% of a child's face has already developed! By guiding facial development earlier, through the use of functional appliances, 80% of the treatment can be corrected before the adult teeth are present!

COOPERATION
Younger children between the ages of 8 and 11 are often much more cooperative than children of 12 to 14.

SHORTER TREATMENT TIME
Another advantage of early Phase One treatment is that children will need to wear fixed braces on their adult teeth for less time.

Underdeveloped Jaws

Correcting Underdeveloped Jaws
Almost 50% of children who need orthodontic treatment due to a bad bite have underdeveloped lower jaws. Functional appliances can reposition the lower jaw forward, improve the child's profile and correct the bite problem-within 7 to 9 months.

Functional Appliance Examples:

Twin Block This functional appliance consists of two bite blocks, upper and lower, which interlock at 70 degrees. Twin blocks are designed so the mandible is held in a protrusive position. The appliance of choice in cases with large overjets when the mandible is recessive. Comfortable to wear, no problem speaking or eating with appliance. Can be used in combination with vertical elastics to correct deep overbite. Activation of midline screws assist with transverse development. Since 80% of Class II malocclusions have deficient mandibles, the Twin Block is a must for the treatment of the majority of Class II cases.		Rick-A-Nator This popular fixed-functional appliance consists of an anterior repositioning splint located lingual to the maxillary anteriors, connected to the maxillary first molar bands via two .040 connector wires. Excellent patient compliance. Ideal for mandibular advancement when overjet is less than 4 mm. Deep overbite correction is made easier with the Rick-A-Nator and vertical elastics. Dramatically improves patients profile and health of the TMJ. Worn in combination with straightwire appliance, which drastically shortens treatment time.

Fixed Appliance Examples:

Fixed orthodontic appliances are the brackets, bands and wires most often associated with “braces.”  Brackets can be made of metal, ceramic or plastic or combinations of these materials.  Some metal brackets are silver-colored, but some are gold-colored.  Ceramic brackets are typically clear or tooth-colored and are generally used by patients who want to minimize the visibility of their braces.