Pediatric Orthodontic Treatment System
The Role of the Orthodontist in Pediatric Health Care
Children with inherited mismatched jaws or tooth size discrepancies (crowding or spacing) benefit from an initial orthodontic evaluation by age seven. These orthodontic problems, left untreated, often lead to compromised dental health, self-image problems and possible life-long facial deformities.
It is often critical to correct the orthodontic problems by reshaping a child’s face and smile during the pediatric years. Dr. Peter T. Bronsky is uniquely qualified by training as an orthodontist and researcher in facial growth and development to evaluate orthodontic problems in children.
Definition of the Problem
Parents and doctors hope that every child has a well-developed set of perfectly shaped and balanced jawbones that permit teeth to be ideally positioned. When this occurs, a normal and healthy “chewing machine” develops and serves the child for life.
All too often, however, heredity may cause a child’s jawbones, teeth and muscles to develop in distorted ways.
In a healthy mouth, the upper jaw should be fit over the lower jaw like a lid fits a box. If the lid and bottom of a box do not fit together because either is mis-shaped or mis-sized, then a distortion exists. The same is true of a child’s jaws. Either the upper or lower jaw can be out of harmony with its mate, resulting in a skeletal deformity.
It is a scientific fact, that once jaw distortions occur, nature alone cannot correct them. Significant areas of jawbone growth are actually finished as early as age 8. Remaining jaw growth is completed by puberty. Failure to correct these distortions between the ages of 4 and 12, may well result in life-long deformities. In the past, when an orthodontist saw a patient with distorted jaws after growth was complete, he was forced to impose a “normal bite” on these mismatched jaws. The “bite” inevitably collapsed because “you cannot build a solid house on an unstable foundation”. Contemporary orthodontic therapy focuses on redirecting growth of the jaws and face, and on minimizing tooth eruption problems by taking advantage of a child’s growth and development. This is the basis of the Bronsky Orthodontics Pediatric Orthodontic Treatment System.
Heredity is also responsible for teeth being too large or too small for the size of the jaw. If a child inherits teeth that are too large for their jawbone, teeth become crowded. If the teeth are small for the jaw size, they will be badly spaced. These discrepancies often lead to tooth eruption problems. In some cases, teeth become impacted. Another serious consequence may include teeth erupting into the wrong position, causing irreversible damage to gums and to the roots of adjacent teeth.
The Bronsky Orthodontics Comprehensive Pediatric Treatment System
The Bronsky Orthodontics Comprehensive Pediatric Treatment System was developed over the past 27 years by treating more than 20,000 youngsters with inherited jaw distortion and tooth eruption problems. The objectives of this system are to improve jaw fit (dentofacial orthopedics) and to aid in tooth eruption. This unique treatment system corrects a range of inherited adnormal facial and jaw structures. It uses the wonderful gift of the growth of pliable jawbones that occurs before puberty. Treatment results in significant 3-dimensional improvements in the jaw relationships and “bite”, while guiding tooth eruption during a child’s critical growth period.
This Bronsky Orthodontics Treatment System utilizes a series of orthodontic/orthopedic appliances designed individually for each patient by Dr. Bronsky and fabricated in our state-of-the-art orthodontic laboratory.
We are delighted that you appreciate the value of our highly sucessful, “cutting edge” treatment system, and look forward to working with you and your child.