Early Treatment

The Best Braces For Kids In Newport Beach, CA

Your child’s smile is in the best hands possible, thanks to our incredible orthodontics team!

Early treatment, or an initial phase of orthodontic treatment, is often questioned and misunderstood. Just a generation ago, most orthodontists had only started treatment once all permanent teeth had erupted. This is why braces have often been seen only as a teen treatment, gracing the halls of middle schools and high schools across the country. However, now we know the benefits of starting earlier for patients with more severe orthodontic problems. Getting a head start before all their teeth come in can mean a world of difference for their developing smiles.

At Wynn Orthodontics, starting at age 8 or 9 rather than 12 or 13, lets us tackle complex bite issues and guide the development of our younger patients’ smiles. Misaligned baby teeth and uneven bites can cause trouble once adult teeth try to come in without enough room to fit. Our expert team makes sure your child’s early treatment is smooth sailing so that the rest of your child’s orthodontic journey is faster and easier than ever. With a straighter smile, your child can look forward to: better dental hygiene, fewer cavities and gum disease, reduced headaches and earaches, no more jaw pain, clearer speech, easier eating, and boosted self-confidence.

Whether your child needs partial braces, a palatal expander, or another early treatment to prepare their mouths for incoming adult teeth, we’re totally committed to their smile. We also use our decades of experience and the latest orthodontic advancements to make the entire process as effective, quick, and comfortable as possible. Ready to start the journey to your child’s happier, straighter smile? Please call our Newport Beach practice at (949) 642-2626 to schedule an appointment with us today!

Finishing Your Child’s Smile After Early Treatment

With early orthodontics done, our team can then give your child the beautiful smile they deserve.

Once early treatment has made room for the permanent teeth to come in, we can start moving them to their final places with standard braces treatment. This is usually between 11 and 14 years old. We have several types of braces available to our patients:

Metal Braces

Metal braces are what most of our young patients expect when it comes to straightening their smiles. How do braces work? By tightening braces’ brackets and wires, we can apply a gentle but steady pressure to your child’s teeth, roots and all, to gradually shift them into place. This comprehensive treatment can tackle the worst orthodontic problems, which takes time. On average, patients can see their incredible braces before and after results in 18 months to 3 years.

Clear Braces

For a subtler and less obtrusive look, clear braces replace traditional braces’ metal brackets with ones made of durable ceramic. These improved brackets are smaller and rounder, too, so they’re less likely to irritate your child’s soft and sensitive cheeks and gums. Since they use the same system of brackets and wires, ceramic braces are just as comprehensive as metal ones and can take on even the more severe bite problems with ease.

Invisalign

Invisalign replaces brackets and wires altogether with clear aligner trays. Each of these trays focuses on a specific problem area of your child’s smile. By switching them out for the next in the series, our orthodontists can gradually straighten teeth and jaws precisely where we want. Clear aligners work faster than regular dental braces, so many of our young patients only need 12 to 18 months of treatment.

What Is Early Orthodontics?

Dr. Wynn and his team take great care of your child’s
developing smile with our early treatment options

Patients who need early orthodontics typically need treatments that last as long as 4 or 5 years. This is broken up into an early partial treatment of about 12 months, followed by approximately 18 months of traditional dental braces once all adult teeth have erupted. Early treatment works to make room in your young one’s mouth for those incoming teeth without issue. At Wynn Orthodontics, we offer several different early treatments to prepare your child’s smile:

Palatal Expander

An expander widens the palate to make room for incoming adult teeth and help with crossbite, overcrowding, and narrow jaws. At this early age, the two palatal bones haven’t yet fused together, so this appliance gradually spreads them apart and stabilizes their new positions over several months. This has the added advantage of allowing your child to breathe deeper and easier.

Partial Braces

These braces apply brackets only to the front teeth, focusing on spacing problems and crossbite rather than the teeth’s final alignment. By correcting mild gaps and crowding issues early, partial braces can prepare your child’s smile before moving them onto standard full braces treatment. Partial braces can also be helpful when only a few teeth are out of alignment, rather than your child’s entire smile.

Retainer

There are two types of retainers Dr. Wynn may recommend. A normal “passive” teeth retainer holds your smile in place after partial braces treatment. This ensures your child’s teeth stay where we need them until all of their adult teeth erupt and they’re ready for standard braces or aligner treatment. “Active retainers” can apply a gentle pressure that shifts teeth slightly in place into a better position.

The Early Bird Gets the Worm…

We take a headstart with our young patients’ smiles to achieve the best possible results.

Dr. Wynn and his dedicated staff are fully committed to each patient who walks through our front doors, and your child is no exception. At Wynn Orthodontics, we have over three decades of experience delivering the best treatments and smiles for patients of all ages. When it comes to early treatment, we offer a wide range of devices—partial braces, expanders, headgear, and more—to give your child every opportunity to make their dream smile real. And with our advanced technologies and comprehensive examinations, we can ensure all stages of their orthodontic treatment are smooth sailing.

REQUEST APPOINTMENT

1Is early orthodontic treatment necessary?

Not all children require early treatment. In many more moderate and mild cases, a single round of braces or clear aligners in middle or high school can beautifully fix our young patients’ smiles. However, with more severe crowding, gaps between teeth, overbite, underbite, and narrow palates, starting earlier can reduce these problems while allowing later braces to be more effective and efficient. We can determine whether early orthodontic treatment is necessary with your child’s standard orthodontic evaluation around 7 years old.

2How long do palate expanders stay in?

Your child will likely need to wear their palate expander for around 6 to 9 months. Depending on their smile’s specific needs, the actual upper jaw expansion will only take about 3 to 6 weeks. The rest of the treatment time is needed to let the jaw bones stabilize into their new positions, similar to how a retainer keeps teeth in place after braces.

3Which kind of braces are best?

Invisalign works great for quickly treating mild and moderate orthodontic issues. However, for more severe issues, metal and clear braces are best. Bracket braces also have the advantage of tackling some problems that aligners can’t, such as teeth that need to be moved vertically in the jaw. Additionally, if your child is likely to lose their aligners, compulsory treatments like traditional bracket braces are best. If you have any questions about which option is best for your child, please feel free to call our office at (949) 642-2626 today and schedule a consultation with Dr. Wynn and his team.

4What is the best age for orthodontic treatment?

This changes on a patient by patient basis. However, in general, it’s better to start early while the smile is developing. For braces and Invisalign treatment, the best age is from ages 11 to 14. At this time, most or all permanent teeth have already come in, but the jaw is still changing and malleable. However, more significant spacing and alignment problems may require earlier treatment between 8 and 10 years old. This allows Dr. Wynn and his team to prepare your child’s smile as adult teeth are replacing baby teeth and the jaw is growing. Starting treatment later as a teen or adult can still be effective, but it will require more time, effort, and pressure to achieve the same results that a child can.

5Are expanders really necessary?

With crossbite, crowding, and narrow mouths, expanders can be an orthodontist’s best friend. By widening the upper jaw, palate expanders free up more space in the mouth for the Wynn Orthodontics team to work with. This makes the braces and aligner process smoother and more successful. It also helps prevent dental extractions that may have otherwise been required if starting orthodontic treatment later once all of your adult teeth have emerged.

6Why are retainers important?

After any orthodontic treatment, from expanders to braces, your new smile will be vulnerable and prone to shifting back to its old alignment for several months to a year. Retainers help keep the teeth and jaws exactly where Dr. Wynn wants them until the mouth stabilizes. With early treatment, our young patients will have a round with a retainer following their procedure before finishing their orthodontic treatment with braces or clear aligners.