OT: braces question

[njmomtoone]

For those of you with kids with braces, did your kids need baby teeth pulled first because of crowding?

 

[bigbabyblues]

My DS8 did. He had 4 baby teeth pulled about a year ago and braces put on because of severe crowding in his mouth and no room for his permanent teeth to come in at all. He wore those for a year and just got them off last month. He will probably need them again in few years to straighten his permanent teeth; the first phase was simply to move his teeth so his permanent teeth could come in. I didn't get braces until I was an adult, and I would have really benefited from having the same thing done. I had teeth everywhere except where they should have been. My DS11 may need braces at some point but will not need teeth pulled according to our orthodontist.

 

[QVCshopper]

My DD7 is in braces (started her young because she has a tiny mouth and because she's a very tall girl). Anyway, they put an expander in to make her mouth grow. Doing that gave space to let her loose, trapped tooth fall out. Then, they put four braces on the front teeth to bring them together so her side front teeth can have room to come in. Later, we'll do the same on the lower teeth and then wait until her other teeth fall out and come in before doing a full set of braces. This way, our ortho said she wouldn't need any teeth pulled, and should be in and out of braces quicker than your average child. The difference is amazing in just 5 months.

 

[robinb]

My 12-year old DD needs to have a tooth pulled before she gets braces. Her teeth are actually not crowded at all but she has one stubborn baby tooth left and the Orthodontist wants it out before he starts.

 

[ceecee]

Some orthodontists will do this and it will be phase I, then phase II. Some will wait until all or most all of the perms are in and then start the braces. Get several opinions before you decide.

 

[maplevale]

I had several 'phases' to my orthodontic work.

I had 3 baby teeth pulled around 10. At 13 I had an expander put in to 'grow' my upper jaw. Braces at 14.... then at 15 I had my 2 baby upper eye teeth pulled because they still had not come out on their own.

 

[rcraw45425]

Our DD is 16 now, wore braces for 13 months up until may of this year. We were very aggressive with her treatment, she had one of those stubborn baby teeth that never came out. We had to pull it and then bracket the adult tooth and pull it down, and then keep it down. Worked beautifully, very happy with results.

 

[annrogers98]

I don't think they do that so much anymore. Back when I had braces in the 70's I had several pulled. But my DD12 is just being worked around. Ortho's really don't want to see kids until they are 11 and most of their baby teeth are out anyway.

 

[shelly3girls]

DD12 needed 4 baby teeth pulled. She is missing 3 adult teeth so the baby teeth may not have fallen out for years. They started to cause problems so they had to come out. The 4th tooth didn't fall out b/c the adult tooth was sideways so they pulled the baby tooth hoping to make room for the adult to come in.

 

[4shinystars]

Both of my DDs needed 8+ teeth pulled. 1st DD had her braces on 5+ years-she's 20 now and has perfect teeth. Her teeth took forever to come in, that's why so long.
DD15 just got hers off this summer after almost 4 years, again, great teeth now. She had 10 teeth pulled to start! (had 2 wisdom, needs the other 2 out still) I think it depends on each child's individual needs.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

My youngest had 3 baby teeth pulled when he was 7 to make room for his adult teeth to come in. He's now 13 and just a few months away from the end of his 2nd phase of braces. Orthos used to pull adult teeth (I had 4pulled before I got my braces in the 70s). Now they pull the baby teeth and use palate expanders to make room for the adult teeth.

 

[StephMK]

DD17 had 2 phases & no teeth pulled. The first time, she was 9 and had them on her top 4 teeth. They were super crooked & it was a placement and confidence issue.

She had them again when she was 15 to do the final adjusting & move her canines into line better. They straightened up very quickly. I swore the ortho left them on just to make sure we'd finish the 12 month pay plan. Almost exactly a year later, they were off. She is pretty good about wearing her retainer & her smile is gorgeous.

DD11 has had 3 teeth pulled. She has a little mouth and no room for all of her teeth. I was hesitant to pull them but now that her permanent teeth are all about in, I can tell there really wasn't space. I never had teeth pulled & despite braces, mine have gotten crooked again. DD is getting braces in a few weeks and we find out next week how long she will wear them. They are not horribly crooked but do need to be straightened and fix her bite a little bit.

DS's teeth have always had plenty of space and look straight to me so I'm hoping maybe he won't need them!

 

[pintamino]

For those of you with kids with braces, did your kids need baby teeth pulled first because of crowding?

I had to have them pulled, started orthodontics at like age 7? Had my first consult when I was in second grade. Four baby teeth and later three adult teeth - by the way, I cannot recommend NOT letting them pull an uneven # of teeth enough, my smile will never be correctly aligned now.

My ortho moved away right after I finished treatment (high school) and the new doc he sold his business to told me they don't really do as many extractions now, but they have to wear retainers much more religiously to maintain the same degree of perfection.

FWIW I also had a palette expander.

 

[robinb]

DD12 needed 4 baby teeth pulled. She is missing 3 adult teeth so the baby teeth may not have fallen out for years. They started to cause problems so they had to come out. The 4th tooth didn't fall out b/c the adult tooth was sideways so they pulled the baby tooth hoping to make room for the adult to come in.

My DD is also missing 3 adult teeth (thanks to me) but they are not causing problems. Heck, I still have one of my baby teeth!

 

[LilyWDW]

I had many teeth pulled as a child because there simply was not enough room for all my adult teeth to come in. They pulled baby teeth to make space for some of the adult teeth to come in, but they also had to pull a couple of adult teeth due to crowding. I also had to have two teeth cut out because there was no where for them to go. It wouldn't have been so bad but I was terrified of needles as a kid (funny since I now have a tattoo) so just to have them pulled I needed laughing gas, a topical, and then the shot.

 

[uk_wildcat]

My son is 9 and he is currently in phase I of his treatment. The ortho first put in an expander on top and a removable one on bottom. He still has those, but also has 3 brackets on his top front teeth. We are still waiting on another one to come in up top, but he has a loose baby tooth that is preventing it from coming all the way in. He was told that if he can't wiggle it out by next month, that he will need to get it pulled so that the permanent tooth can come in. Next year we are looking at getting the brackets off and getting some sort of retainers that will maintain the position of the teeth while the rest of his baby teeth fall out and perm teeth come in. Once that occurs, he will get full braces.

 

[mjkacmom]

Back in the dark ages, when I had braces, I had many baby and permanant teeth pulled, because of crowding. My kids' orthodontist doesn't believe in this approach. If the mouth is too small, they get an expander around the age of 8. If not, he just waits until most the of baby teeth are out (doesn't like to pull them). He will put on braces if there are only a couple of baby teeth left, and then put a bracket on the permanant tooth once it comes in.

He's expensive, but good. I've payed off dd15's braces more than a year ago, but she's still wearing braces, and seeing him every month, because he wants her smile to be perfect.

 

[bear_mom]

No. They waited until dd lost all her baby teeth before starting her in braces.
We were all more comfortable with this option.

Emily

 

[bjscheel]

DD10 is in braces only to correct an underbite- she has only a few adult teeth so we're not straightening yet. But, she did have two baby teeth pulled because as another poster mentioned, the adult teeth are sideways- aiming for the front teeth instead of straight down and hopefully having the baby teeth gone will let those teeth take the path of least resistance, straight down.

If we get the underbite fixed, and her adult teeth come in reasonably straight, I don't plan on doing braces again. That's not to say she doesn't need other work done- she is missing an adult tooth, and her bottom front teeth are missing enamel so she will need some caps or whatever.

 

[angierae]

We received (in retrospect bad) advice from an orthodontist to wait until all of DD's adult teeth were in before starting orthodontics. By the time we reached that point, she really was to a point where she needed oral surgery to really fix her overbite. Our options were a year of braces, jaw surgery, and then another year of braces, OR, we found a dentist who said he could get her to about 85% perfect with braces alone if we had two of her adult teeth pulled.

We chose to pull the adult teeth and go from there, and two years into a three year plan her teeth look fabulous. Only a professional would be able to know they weren't exactly right.

I wish we had found an ortho willing to work with her when she was 7 or 8 so we could have avoided the worst of things, but I took her for a consult and believed the advice I got. When we went back to take care of it later, I ended up getting four consults before I decided on an orthodontist, having learned my lesson.