Summer is approaching, and many parents have begun to plan to take their children to the hospital to correct their teeth . Starting around the age of 6, the child's tooth replacement period will last until around the age of 12. A variety of conditions can occur during this important period of a child's jaw development. Some are temporary abnormalities, while other situations require prompt correction. So, what problems do children have that require intervention? Today, I would like to ask the dental doctor from Seoul Children's Hospital to talk to parents about several situations that need attention.
Retained deciduous teeth Have to make room for new teeth
One of the most common situations during tooth replacement is retained deciduous teeth , which is what we often call "new teeth" growing in, but the "old teeth" have not fallen out. The retained deciduous teeth occupy the position of the new teeth, resulting in insufficient space for the new teeth to erupt and cannot grow to their normal position.
When this happens, parents need to take their children to the hospital to have the retained deciduous teeth extracted. Since part of the tooth root has been absorbed in this case, this treatment operation is relatively simple and not very invasive. Parents and children do not need to worry too much.
Mouth breathing is the "number one killer" of facial development
Long-term mouth breathing caused by rhinitis , adenoid tonsillar hypertrophy and other factors, leading to upper airway obstruction, is the "number one killer" of children's facial development. .
Under normal circumstances, our lips are naturally closed, and the tongue is gently close to the roof of the mouth. When breathing through the mouth, the lips are open, and the obstruction of the front teeth by the lips disappears. In this way, the teeth will protrude forward, and the tongue must be at the lower part of the mouth, so that the upper dental arch becomes narrow, further aggravating the protrusion of the teeth. Since the upper dentition covers the dentition, the upper jaw becomes crowded and narrow, which will also lead to underdevelopment of the lower jaw, which is what we often see as " buck teeth " and "small chin".
Clinical observation shows that mouth breathing for less than half a year has little impact on the jaw. Therefore, when a child breathes through the mouth due to airway obstruction, parents should take the child to the otolaryngology department for examination to solve the airway problem as soon as possible and restore normal nasal breathing state.
It is worth noting that some children have problems such as inability to close the lip muscles and low tongue body due to previous airway obstruction. Although the problem of upper airway obstruction has been resolved, the lip and tongue state of mouth breathing still persists. Although the airflow does not pass through the mouth, this "myofunctional abnormality" for a long time will also affect the development of the jaw.
Hemilateral chewing can "eat" the face crookedly
Some bad habits in the oral cavity can also affect the development of the maxillofacial area. For example, children's habit of eating with their hands and sticking out their tongues, because there are always fingers or tongues located in a certain part of the dentition, will cause local opening and closing, and protrusion of the teeth. The bad habit of hemilateral chewing, that is, always eating on one side, will lead to asymmetric development of the jaws on both sides, resulting in a "crooked face".
If you have a family genetic history, you should get rid of bad habits.
Genetic factors also have an important impact on children's jaw development. If there are skeletal factors such as maxillary overdevelopment, mandibular overdevelopment, deviation, etc. in the family, then the child will also develop according to this "established trajectory" during the growth and development period. Parents who have this situation in
should ask, since it will develop into this situation anyway, so donāt worry about it? The answer is quite the opposite.
Children with congenital unfavorable genetic factors should pay more attention to the health of the upper airway and the elimination of bad habits. Because these environmental factors may aggravate the effects of genetic factors. For example, children with a family history of mandibular prognathism, commonly known as "mandibular protrusion," may also have enlarged tonsils, mouth breathing, and low-positioned tongues. This will further promote forward overdevelopment of the mandible, greatly increasing the difficulty of treatment.
When traditional orthodontic treatment cannot cure the problem, surgery can only be used. However, the surgical operation is also limited by the oral space, and the severity of the child's condition also has an important impact on the final curative effect.
Text/Wang Ying
( Children's Hospital Affiliated to Capital Institute of Pediatrics )
Take your children for oral examinations every six months
The dental replacement period is an important period for children's maxillofacial development, and facial plasticity is very strong. Children's normal breathing patterns and healthy lifestyles have a positive impact on the healthy development of the maxillofacial area. If the child's problem is not intervened in time, it may lead to the occurrence of malocclusion .
So what situation needs to be corrected? The general principle is that the sooner bad habits are removed, the better. Dental factors that affect jaw development should be treated, while factors that do not affect jaw development can be left alone. However, children in the dentition period have many and rapid changes, and it takes parents up to half a year to take their children to the hospital for oral examinations for early detection and early treatment. As for whether the condition of the teeth affects the development of the jaw, this judgment needs to be left to the doctor.
