Four (4) years old and already we are looking at orthodontics. Actually, we discovered an issue at 3 and even that was just because noone else had paid attention before then. I’ve learnt a lot, so let me start somewhere near what we might call a beginning…
Things I’ve learnt about the correct formation of teeth/palate:
Firstly, nutrition in utero (whilst pregnant) is critical. That’s right – by the time I noticed my daughter’s crowded teeth it was already 4 years too late, at least. What you eat while pregnant matters a great deal for proper wide palate formation. Specifically, essential fats like fish and butter oils are key.
Big strike for me already – I am intolerant of fish and didn’t discover the gift of butter until years too late. I didn’t eat fats at all actually, I was still back in the days of fats=bad. If only I knew then what I know now eh? Well, we now know I, like many, was sooo wrong. In particular when we are talking in utero, because now we are talking about the development of a new tiny individual whose brain is going to be largely made of…fats (cholesterol actually) and whose nerves need to be covered in …you guessed it – fat. Fats are an important energy source for sure, they are important structurally, but more than that, they are a carrier of all sorts of fat-soluble vitamins and minerals needed for healthy development.
Interestingly, my daughter’s favourite food for her first few years was avocado – I think she was making up for lost time in the fats department and I’m glad she did.
So, back to the teeth. In utero fats are essential, but if baby has already been born it’s never too late to try and offer some fish and butter oil (another one of those healthy things I slip into a smoothie). Green Patures do a great blend of the two that I consider an essential part of any child’s healthy nourishing diet.
I think everyone has noticed the massively increased incidence of lip and tongue ties? (umm…did I mention fats in utero?). Epic proportions of kids now have them and they can affect breastfeeding (in about 70% of cases), not to mention palate formation. You will only develop a nice wide palate with nicely even teeth if the tongue is resting up there forcing it to widen. The tongue can’t reach the roof of the mouth if it’s tied to the bottom.
Despite the epic proportions of ties around, neither of my kids was diagnosed, I noticed it myself. My daughter’s lip tie is more severe the her tongue and neither seems to be affecting her tongue position (still crossing my fingers!). My son’s tongue tie I noticed early and had it cut. (The dramas of that are a whooole other post…)
So, assuming we have a fully mobile, functional tongue we need to keep it in the roof of the mouth. THE BEST WAY to train a child to keep their tongue in the roof of their mouth is long-term breastfeeding (ahh, don’t you love when nature has an answer for everything!). Learning to breath with the mouth closed and tongue resting in the roof of the mouth isn’t just important for your teeth – it’s actually linked to sleep issues and all sorts of health complaints.
So for me, big cross on the fats whilst pregnant (making up for it now with Green Pastures) but ticks for most other things. So what’s next? I looked at 2 things: kinesiology and orthodontics.
First to mention the kinesiology, which I’m only going to mention briefly because I don’t think it’s a big factor for teeth specifically, but can assist a whole range of issues. The kinesiologist did find that my daughter’s cranial bones were all jammed together, which wasn’t going to help them grown nice and wide to fit all her teeth. He also supported my idea of pursuing functional orthodontics.
I did some research into functional orthodontics versus traditional orthodontics. Strangely the traditional orthodontists seem to think that functional is a waste of time (hmm..competition?).
First to define:
Functional orthodontics believes that if you start early, before the palate is fully solidified into bone (when adult teeth arrive around age 7) and train the tongue to sit in the correct position you can redirect the palate growth into a more natural wide position. Braces should only be required in the most extreme cases, if at all.
Traditional orthodontics suggests waiting until the adult mouth is fully formed (around 14) and we can see what we are working with and just rearrange them as we need to with braces, plates and butterfly clips (the latter actually break and stretch the palate bone very slowly and painfully over time).
So the Traditionalists think they are the bees knees because they know what they do works (at least to a degree, my teeth tend to argue the point) with pain and lots of time and money spent. With their equipment they can break and shape your mouth however you want. Simple. Effective. Expensive. Painful.
Functional orthodontics makes more sense to me. The idea is to correct problem behaviour (ie tongue position) and help the jaw grow to a more natural end-point BEFORE the palate has finished growing and is still soft and maleable. The drawback is that results are inconsistent as they are dependent on how compliant the child is at doing what needs to be done. I would also argue that if diet isn’t being corrected at the same time then the palate and tongue will only do so much.
So you can well imagine a 4 year old is not going to be super excited about wearing a retainer every day, even briefly. Nor are they likely to want to do regular mouth stretches and tongue exercises. Not sure there is a perfect age, but I do know that the younger they are the easier it is going to be to redirect palate growth whilst it’s still growing. I do know that the time spent on exercises can be shorter for bigger gains because they are still so malleable. I also know, as the quote goes: “you can do anything with a child, if only you play with them”. So making it fun if at all possible is never a bad idea…
It’s a work in progress. My daughter has her off days but is mostly super compliant and after 2 months we believe we are already seeing progress. I’m hoping the next check-up in a couple of weeks will confirm that suspected change is real. I feel like I’ve taken a holistic approach – the kinesiologist, the diet and the orthodontics. I hope that it means she never has to live through the misery of braces or butterfly-clips. I’ll keep you posted…