Let’s Understand: The Difference Between a Dentist and an Orthodontist

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The right time to start caring about dental and overall health is from childhood. Whether it is about bones and muscles or teeth, your smile needs attention. It is important to take steps to help your child maintain good dental health as they grow up in order to avoid any dental health complications when they’re older.

You never know what minor imperfections your child currently holds. Avoiding regular health checkups might turn them into severe health conditions during their adulthood. That’s why your child needs everyone from a pediatrician to an orthodontist from day one.

In this written piece, we have summarized all the benefits of having a child orthodontist. Let’s get started!

Let’s Understand: The Difference Between a Dentist and an Orthodontist

An orthodontist is an expert in dentistry who helps adults and kids to correct bites, straighten teeth, and improve occlusion. While a dentist focuses on all the aspects like teeth, gum, nerves, and jaw, an orthodontist only focuses on treating anything inappropriate with the teeth alignment.

Another difference between the two is that a dentist looks for mouth hygiene and promotes overall oral care. However, an orthodontist encourages dental care and fixes any irregularities with the teeth.

Now that we know the difference between a dentist and an orthodontist – let’s dive deep into why your child needs:

The Importance of Early Orthodontic Evaluation

A few teeth conditions demand time to heal. And what’s a better time than childhood? It’s best for kids to get identified and start with a teeth treatment as early as possible to have a stress free adulthood. So here’s the importance of having an early orthodontic evaluation for your kid:

1. Correcting Dental Misalignments for Improved Oral Health

Some kids have misaligned teeth growth. Because of it, they might have a misaligned development in the jawline. Both these conditions make chewing challenging for the kid and boost an increased bite in some scenarios.

On visiting a professional orthodontist for your child, he might recommend you special treatment to fix the child’s misaligned teeth and jaw development.

If you are looking for a dentist in Dearborn, your search ends here. The dental care team at Oakman family dentistry serves you with their best experience of 20+ years.

2. Enhancing Speech and Chewing Abilities Through Orthodontics

Children who have crooked teeth suffer majorly from under-confidence. Usually, crooked teeth develop in a child due to unideal habits like thumb sucking or tongue thrusting. And because of uneven teeth, kids might find difficulty in delivering a smooth speech.

If you visit an orthodontist near you, he might help your kid by fixing crooked teeth through orthodontics, including braces, clear aligners, and retainers. All these treatments altogether help enhance your child’s speech and chewing abilities.

3. Boosting Self-Esteem and Confidence with a Beautiful Smile

Besides chewing challenges and speech hurdles, your kid might develop a “not-so-ideal” smile because of malocclusion. In turn, it can result in lower self-esteem. Your kid might even feel inferior because of not having a pretty smile.

And with aging and entering adulthood, your kid might go through mental disorders. An expert orthodontics in Dearborn can evaluate your kid’s teeth and suggest a customized treatment to fix the crooked smile. To your surprise, a happy face can lead your kids to speak up and smile in front of their peers without fear.

4. Long-term Benefits: Preventing Dental Problems in Adulthood

Most parents visit an orthodontist when their kid has already developed an oral condition. However, this should be different from the scenario in reality. As a responsible parent, you should regularly visit an orthodontist with your child once every six months once in a year.

Frequent appointments with your child’s orthodontist can make you learn about your child’s dental development. Additionally, you can figure out any condition on the spot with an orthodontist’s help and prevent teeth from decaying or root canal infection at an early stage.

Having said that, search for a brilliant dentist near you and schedule an all-inclusive oral checkup for your child at the earliest.

Visit Oakman Family Dentistry for Your Child’s Dental Care!

Many of us tend to neglect our oral health more so than other issues, which leads to further complications. If your child does this as well, they may suffer from chewing defects, misaligned jawlines, too spacious teeth, and crooked or crowded teeth – but it only takes an appointment with an orthodontist near you to avoid all these unwanted problems.

Lastly, guide and encourage your kids to deal with the orthodontist clinic environment bravely. This helps them feel more comfortable and less anxious the more they attend these visits.

So, what are you waiting for? Call or come in and see us today!