Parents work hard to make sure their children are happy, healthy, and thriving. It\u2019s a rewarding job where you get to make countless memories, from moments that are genuinely hard to moments that are joyful or hilarious. Despite this, parenthood can be downright hard. You have to keep track of a lot of information, especially when it comes to your child\u2019s health. Even when you hone in on a specific aspect of their health, like their oral health, all of the different terms can get confusing. Thankfully, that\u2019s where we come in!<\/p>\n
Our children\u2019s dental specialists are here to help ensure your child develops strong, healthy teeth and gums. We\u2019re here to answer your questions. One of the topics we get questions on a lot is the difference between pediatric dentistry and orthodontics, especially as dentists begin to recommend that children have their first orthodontics evaluation earlier. What\u2019s the difference between these two fields of dentistry and how do they impact each other? To help you understand the answers to these questions, we\u2019ve put together a comparison between pediatric dentistry and orthodontics.<\/p>\n
The biggest difference between pediatric and orthodontic dentistry is the focus of each field. Pediatric dentistry is a specialized field of dentistry that focuses on the oral health of children. Dentists who choose this specialty are essentially general dentists for children. Pediatric dentists are the ones who examine and clean your child\u2019s teeth twice a year, keep an eye on the development of baby and permanent teeth, fill cavities<\/a>, and carry out other routine treatments. Orthodontics is another specialized field of dentistry, but it has a narrower focus: straightening patients\u2019 bites. Orthodontic treatments improve the appearance and health of patients\u2019 smiles and can be undergone at any age, but it\u2019s generally best to resolve problems sooner rather than later. Despite these differences, pediatric and orthodontic dentistry both aim to make your child healthier, so they\u2019re both essential to protecting and maintaining your child\u2019s long-term oral health.<\/p>\n While genetics play a role in whether or not your child will need braces<\/a>, there\u2019s a wide range of other factors that can influence this aspect of your child\u2019s development, including several childhood habits like pacifier use or thumb-sucking. These habits are perfectly normal self-soothing tactics for young children. In fact, they\u2019re actively beneficial for your baby. As your little one grows, however, the risks of these habits begin to outweigh the benefits. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that you begin weaning your baby from their pacifier at around six months old, ideally weaning them completely by around a year old and no later than two.<\/p>\n There are several ways you can go about getting your child to drop their pacifier habit. You can simply go cold turkey and remove the pacifier all at once, but this method requires you to buckle down and stick it out. Alternatively, you can wean them off over a longer period of time by setting specific times and places where your child can use their pacifier, using positive reinforcement, or offering them a toy or snack as an alternative to the pacifier. Thumb-sucking is a similar habit, but children often stop this habit themselves between the ages of six months and four years old. Just like pacifiers, it\u2019s best to try to wean your child off of this habit before it begins affecting their baby teeth. Since you can\u2019t remove your child\u2019s thumbs from the equation like you can their pacifier, thumb-sucking is a harder habit to get your child to drop. Relying on positive reinforcement and replacing the behavior with a different positive interaction are two of the best methods at your disposal.<\/p>\n Over time, crooked teeth and misaligned bites can cause a wide range of health issues for your child. Crooked teeth are harder to brush and floss thoroughly, which increases your child\u2019s chances of getting tooth decay or gum disease. If it goes untreated, tooth decay and gum disease can lead to tooth loss. Even losing a baby tooth to decay can impact your child\u2019s permanent smile because baby teeth help guide permanent teeth into the right position as they erupt. Without a baby tooth saving its spot and guiding it into the right position, your child\u2019s permanent teeth can come in crooked or overcrowded. Additionally, untreated gum disease can increase the chances your child will suffer from a wide range of overall health issues in the future, including pneumonia or other respiratory diseases, heart disease, and stroke.<\/p>\n Misaligned bites can cause their own problems as well by leading to a temporomandibular joint disorder, also called TMD. This is a group of conditions characterized by jaw pain that\u2019s often severe enough to impact your child\u2019s ability to eat or speak normally. TMD can also cause muscle pains in the neck, shoulders, and back, frequent or severe headaches, hearing loss, and more. All of these potential repercussions from crooked teeth and misaligned bites can occur at any age, so it\u2019s wise to go ahead and receive an orthodontic consultation for your child as soon as you can. This way, you can resolve your child\u2019s bite while they\u2019re young \u2014 before it causes bigger issues.<\/p>\n If you had braces as a kid, it\u2019s likely that you didn\u2019t go to your first orthodontics consultation<\/a> until you were around 12 years old \u2014 and maybe as late as 14. Nowadays, however, dentists and orthodontists alike recommend you take your child in for their first orthodontics evaluation when they\u2019re around seven years old<\/a>. At this age, enough of your child\u2019s permanent teeth have come in for orthodontists to use improved dental technology to predict where your child\u2019s adult teeth will come in and what dental issues, if any, they\u2019re likely to face. You might be wondering, \u201cOK, that\u2019s great, but is it really necessary to take my child to an orthodontist so early?\u201d<\/p>\n The answer is yes! Since your child\u2019s face and jaws are still growing, orthodontists can do more than simply predict issues with their future bite; they can take action before these issues develop to prevent or reduce them! Palate expansion is a perfect example of an early orthodontic treatment. It prevents or lessens overcrowding in your child\u2019s mouth by taking advantage of the fact that the plates of bone at the top of your child\u2019s mouth haven\u2019t fused together yet. Using a similar idea to braces, palate expanders exert slow, gently increasing pressure on your child\u2019s palate, pushing the bones apart over time. The bones grow in response, widening your child\u2019s palate and creating more room for their adult teeth. This treatment can cut back on or eliminate the need for future tooth extractions that may otherwise have been necessary to reduce overcrowding in your child\u2019s mouth. Early orthodontic treatments like this don\u2019t guarantee that your child won\u2019t need orthodontic treatment like braces when they reach their teens or preteens, but it does reduce the severity or length of treatment they\u2019ll have to undergo in the future.<\/p>\n Despite the different focuses of pediatric dentistry and orthodontics, the two fields of dentistry have the same goal: improving your child\u2019s short- and long-term oral health. Treatments from each field work together to benefit your child\u2019s oral health for an entire lifetime. If you have more questions about pediatric dentistry, orthodontics, and next steps for your child\u2019s oral health, feel free to call our Omaha pediatrics office and schedule a consultation at any time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Understand the terms that help you care for your child\u2019s oral health as they grow. Parents work hard to make sure their children are happy, healthy, and thriving. It\u2019s a rewarding job where you get to make countless memories, from moments that are genuinely hard to moments that are joyful or hilarious. Despite this, parenthood…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":203889,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[21,93],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/omaha.mypediatricdentalspecialists.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203886"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/omaha.mypediatricdentalspecialists.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/omaha.mypediatricdentalspecialists.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omaha.mypediatricdentalspecialists.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omaha.mypediatricdentalspecialists.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/omaha.mypediatricdentalspecialists.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203886\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omaha.mypediatricdentalspecialists.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/203889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/omaha.mypediatricdentalspecialists.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omaha.mypediatricdentalspecialists.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omaha.mypediatricdentalspecialists.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Childhood habits can increase the likelihood that your child will need braces.<\/h2>\n
Crooked teeth and misaligned bites can cause oral and overall health problems.<\/h2>\n
Early orthodontic evaluations can make all the difference for your child\u2019s oral health.<\/h2>\n
Pediatric dentistry and orthodontics work together to keep your child healthy.<\/h2>\n