Children’s Orthodontics

Our modern approach to children’s dental care involves orthodontic screening from 5 years old. This is included in your regular dental exams at Wickham Dental!

Did you know a simple night only soft brace in 5-8 years old can help teeth growth straight?

Does your child have crooked or prominent teeth… did you know that most crowding is best treated early, when milk teeth are still present?

Modern research shows us the benefits of treating early, giving better results than leaving treatment until the teens. The palate is still soft, moldable and growing when milk teeth are still present, improving the comfort and effectiveness of treatment.

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Intervention with early braces while milk teeth are still present have a vital role in allowing the permanent teeth to grow straight. We provide advice on suitability in our regular children’s examinations. Click on this information to see when an early consultation may really benefit your child: ‘What to watch out for in growing children’.

We provide fixed braces and clear aligners for our teens. We have a non-extraction approach to treatment. This protects the profile and the smile width, to get a ‘wow’ result. An anti-aging approach is used, allowing fullness of the lips and smile, rather than retracting teeth back. This gives our lips and face the extra support as we age.

Fastbraces are popular with 4-6 month treatment times, technology from the US. Damon appliances provide a high-tech low friction system, often for more complex cases. The Damon system avoids extractions and gives an ideal, broad smile.

Mouth breathing in kids

At Wickham Dental we will screen your child for mouthbreathing.

Children grow as they sleep. Mouth breathing can lower the oxygen that your child absorbs. This can lead to: less rest at nigh time despite a long nights sleep, daytime sleepiness or poor concentration. In younger children we can see hyperactivity.

How can I stop my child mouthbreathing?

We have a myobrace therapy program, using a night time soft guard in children. This teaches them the good habit of nasal breathing. This can help with better sleep and to grow straighter teeth. we treat kids from 5-15 years old. Ask us for more details. https://myobrace.com/en-gb

Why do teeth grow crooked?

Research now tells us that the tongue sitting in the roof of the mouth moulds a good upper jaw shape and space for straight teeth to grow. Mouth breathing causing the tongue to drop and crowded teeth to develop. We can help with this.

‘Don’t ignore the snore’

Are you concerned that your child is grinding their teeth, snoring at night, getting poor quality sleep? We can help

…as dentists we can screen for airways problems in children. These can easily go undetected and can have a huge impact on crooked teeth, behaviour, concentration, grades at school, sleep quality, even bedwetting. Coordination with ENT consultants is essential.

Tooth Grinding in kids

Please report this to your dentist. Teeth grinding is a sign of sleep disordered breathing, and needs to be checked out by one our dentists and may require a referral to an ENT or correction of the breathing by one of our therapies.