Crooked teeth can mar your appearance and make you feel less attractive. Thus, if you are a parent, you may want to ensure that your child avoids a dental misalignment or has it corrected before adulthood.

Here are a few ways that an orthodontist can help ensure that your child enters adulthood with straight teeth.

Space Maintainers

If your child loses a primary tooth before it sheds naturally, the tooth can no longer maintain the space needed for the unerupted permanent tooth to present in a straight alignment. If the gap is left unfilled in the mouth for a prolonged period and the adult tooth does not present itself, the child's other teeth may shift into the space, causing crowding when the permanent tooth finally erupts.

To help ensure that the space remains filled until it is time for the adult tooth to emerge, a dentist or orthodontist can insert a space maintainer. The appliance, which is custom-designed from metal or acrylic, maintains the space left by the lost baby tooth until it is filled by the tooth's permanent replacement.

Extractions

In some cases, a primary tooth does not shed when it should. The adult tooth that should replace it may still erupt. The resulting crowding can cause long-term dental misalignment. 

If the dental provider sees signs of the adult tooth's eruption and little indication that the primary tooth is about to be shed, they may extract the primary tooth. The extraction provides the space necessary for the adult tooth to erupt in the proper alignment.

Braces

If a child already displays misaligned teeth, an orthodontic appliance, such as braces, may be needed to straighten the teeth. The braces apply a corrective force to the teeth to move them into the desired configuration.

Braces include brackets, an archwire, and elastic bands. The brackets are cemented to the teeth, and the archwire is attached to the brackets with the bands. 

As the archwire applies force to the brackets, it is transferred to the teeth. The orthodontist periodically adjusts the archwire to maintain the alignment force necessary to alter the alignment.

Orthodontic correction with braces may take several years. However, it is often complete before a child becomes an adult. Nevertheless, to maintain the new positioning of the teeth, the child may have to wear a retainer.

To have the alignment of your child's teeth checked or corrected, schedule an appointment with an orthodontist in your local area.