When children get to a certain age – usually their early teens or slightly before – it’s fairly common for their dentist to start to recommend the use of dental braces.
Dental braces help to straighten the teeth gradually over time, by applying targeted pressure to train them in a certain direction.
Your family dentist may recommend dental braces for a number of different reasons.
Mainly, dental braces for children help to realign teeth that are growing on crooked angles, gradually and slowly reposition teeth that are overlapped each other, and to help correct their “bite” – the way that the upper and lower jaw meet and line up when you bite down.
Whilst traditional dental braces do a great job of realigning teeth gradually over time, they do sacrifice the cosmetics of your smile in the short term.
They can also leave longer term cosmetic damage on the teeth through staining if they are not maintained correctly.
That’s why, here at Kherani Dental at Aspen, we always recommend Invisalign as an alternative option for patients looking for straighter teeth.
So in today’s post, we’re going to take a deeper look into Invisalign vs traditional braces for children to help you decide which one is right for you.
Advantages of Braces For Children
There are many cosmetic advantages to dental braces and the straighter smiles they help to produce.
From the self-esteem and confidence boosting cosmetic benefits of a straighter smile, to the longer-term general improvements to your child’s oral health, dental braces can be a great proactive dentistry tool.
Over the years, we have helped many patients of all ages to improve their smiles and achieve straighter, brighter, and healthier teeth.
As well as the cosmetic side though, there are also some key preventative dental health advantages to braces too, since straighter and less overlapped teeth are easier to keep clean.
Helping your child to improve their bite will also help them to chew more easily and with a reduced chance of inadvertent dental injuries and chipped teeth in later life.
Advantages of Invisalign
Invisalign treatment can help you achieve similar results to traditional braces, but without the short-term sacrifice to your smile.
Invisalign is a type of clear aligner that is made to fit an individual patient’s mouth.
We use the latest dental technology to take a 3D image of your teeth before creating a custom-made aligner to fit your smile and to begin gradually straightening your teeth.
Every few months we will change your retainer for a new one with a slightly different fit to keep the right amount of pressure on your teeth.
As well as being a better option aesthetically, the other main advantage of Invisalign over traditional braces is the timeline. Invisalign can usually produce significantly faster results than traditional braces.
In addition to that, Invisalign also involves fewer visits to the dental clinic, as we can usually send you multiple aligners at the same time. This is more convenient for our patients who would otherwise need to visit is every few months to tighten their braces.
Timelines For Braces Vs Invisalign
There are quite a few different treatments and types of braces available for children and generally, the time they will be required for depends on your specific situation and how much correction is required.
Typical timelines can range from 9 months up to about 2 years.
During that time, your child will be required to attend regular appointments with your family dentist to inspect and maintain the braces and occasionally tighten them.
When it comes to Invisalign, treatment times can usually be much faster than traditional braces, and it is not uncommon to start seeing results in around half the time it would take with traditional braces.
What Age Should Children Visit An Orthodontist?
The answer to this question will depend on the development of your child’s teeth and can vary quite a lot from patient to patient.
Once adult teeth begin to come through, it can take a little while for your dentist to see how the teeth are developing in the mouth before they can decide on and recommend a course of action.
It’s never too early to visit a specialist orthodontist. Visiting the orthodontist earlier on means that they can sometimes recommend a wider range of treatment options by intervening in dental issues at an earlier stage in the child’s development.
That being said, most of the time we do recommend waiting until adult teeth are starting to come through. That usually happens around the age of 6 or 7.
Once your child gets to that age, regular visits can help your family dentist to stay on top of teeth development and recommend the best possible course of action earlier.
Ready To Make an Appointment?
Here at Kherani Dental at Aspen we have been helping our young patients to achieve happier, healthier smiles for years.
To make an appointment to visit one of our orthodontist specialists, click here or call us at (403) 263 0055.
