Differences in Orthodontic Treatment for Adults and Children

Families in the US have a specific family doctor and/or physician to check and treat their health requirements. Similarly, there is an option for child and family dentistry Mattapan, Boston, MA, and other cities. Instead of going to different facilities to treat you and your child’s teeth, there is a way to do that under just one roof!

Adults and children can get orthodontic treatment for similar conditions. While that may be the case, there are differences between the two which mainly consist of challenges with adult orthodontics. Here are some differentiators between adults and children that decide how they are treated.

Age

It may seem as though one’s teeth at whatever age should be treated the same but that’s a common misconception. As one gets on in age and reaches adulthood, their jaws and teeth reach full development. Whereas a child’s teeth are still in their early stages of development and because of this, it is easier to make alignments, extractions, and adjustments.

When someone advances in age, their teeth get harder, furthermore, hardening the tissues around a tooth’s existing position. This makes orthodontic work on adults a much longer and complex process as compared to children.

Conditions that adults suffer differ from younger patients such as the insufficient supply of blood due to bone deficiency between the roots, marginal bone loss, and mild gingivitis.

Extraction-related concerns

Previous dental producers such as extractions do not allow teeth to grow and this poses a challenge to orthodontists. They require a prosthetic tooth/bone to be implanted in the area needing treatment. Closing an extraction gap between teeth as well as keeping them closed can be a tricky process since adult teeth do not respond well to pressure and growing bone.

This is something kids have very rarely done and don’t face this problem. Children are ideal candidates for orthodontic treatment since they are younger and have, therefore, undergone much less treatment in their lives making the movement of teeth relatively easy compared to an adult.

Overbite Correction

A bad bite or improper bite also referred to as Malocclusion is one of the primary reasons that someone visits the orthodontist. Typically, a tooth or two has to be extracted due to there being no space in the mouth for the orthodontist to align the teeth properly.

One’s overbite can worsen over time due to the wear and tear of the teeth. This can make an overbite far worse which additionally makes fixing it quite difficult. In most cases, fixing it isn’t even an option and the only solution is to make a patient’s bite functional.

On the other hand, children’s teeth are not relatively as worn down as they are still developing. So unlike an adult’s treatment process, the orthodontist focuses his/her care on perfecting the child’s bite rather than simply resorting to creating a bite that is functional.

Temporomandibular joint disorder (TMD)

Adults have a higher risk of having TMD. A patient that suffers from this condition has issues with their jaw joint and jaw making treatments more challenging. Children are far less likely to have TMD thus making orthodontics procedures a breeze.

Children are less compliant

This has more to do with the attitude towards getting treated. Adults want the job done promptly, so it’s pretty much a quick, uninterrupted process for the most part.

Children, on the other hand, aren’t ones to comply that easily with all the directions they receive about their treatment such as sitting still in the dentist chair. Post-visit non-compliances include not duly changing elastics on their braces, consuming foods that can damage their teeth, and not maintaining proper hygiene. This can make the treatment last longer and negatively impact the final results. That’s why this dentist who does Invisalign in Williamsburg highly recommends that parents should strictly supervise their children who are under orthodontic treatment.