Yikes, Braces Are Sooner Than You Think

Children growing up in the '80s endured a different set of experiences in comparison with children of today. I look back on my pictures, and lots of trends immediately jump out at me. Yes, I wore corduroy Bermuda shorts, knickers, Espirt clothes and even two belts at one time. I also wore braces, and they weren't clear and plastic. 

My braces were metal and covered my teeth. They hurt, bad, and I got tired of using wax to soften the blow.

According to Dr. Ray Morgan, a Buckhead-based general dentist, today's choices are endless.

"There are many more choices today," he said. "When I had braces, they were metal and covered a lot of your teeth, but now with braces, the brackets are bonded onto your teeth and a lot smaller. There are porcelain braces and alinger therapy which features clear retainers that move teeth in the right spot, or patients can choose to have braces on the back side of your teeth called lingual braces."

The latest change in braces is the amount of options and the technology built into the brackets, he said. "It's because of the technology in brackets and wires that has led to a reduction in the amount of time to wear braces."

Today, dentists also take a different approach to examining the teeth.  "Typically, I tell everyone that a child needs to see a dentist at age 3 to make sure everything is OK. By 7 years old, I recommend an orthodontic evaluation because the front four teeth on top and bottom are permanent and the first molars are in. It's a good time to have an orthodontic checkup,"  says Morgan, who is also a father of three, ages 16, 20 and 25.

Before I got braces many years ago, I was told like so many others that I had too many teeth for my mouth. And, so began a series of extractions. But, today, that's not so much the problem.

"Sometimes children are treated at age 7 and others are treated around 13 years of age, but it typically begins on their problems and sometimes, it's just that their teeth are too crowded, but other times, it's related to bone structure," Morgan explained.

"The best way to address orthodontics is to phase it, depending on the problem," he said. "Orthodontics are more aggressive now to head problems off at the pass, and if we see teeth are crowded earlier on, we work to actually make the mouth bigger, literally. We use appliances to make the mouth bigger so that we make room for those teeth because you want to have all your teeth, and appliance therapy is an option."

But, really, I wondered how many people need braces. And according to Morgan, the picture isn't pretty.

"Approximately 85 percent of the population could use orthodontics, " he said. "It's a lot like a puzzle — you've got to get it in the right spot. You want to look good and you want your bite to be correct and if teeth aren’t coming together you can get early wear of the teeth, and breakage of the teeth results. And, when teeth are overlapped it makes them hard to clean and could lead to periodontal problems."

Gulp. I guess it's sooner than I think. I guess a fund for braces goes right along with college and life insurance.  I hope my little one is ready.