What’s the Deal With Mixed Dentition and Why It’s the Perfect Time for an Ortho Check

As the parent of a young child, it’s natural to think that their growth—both physically and emotionally—is progressing at a rapid pace. And that’s true of their oral development as well. 

If your child is currently in elementary or middle school, they’re likely in the midst of a phase known as mixed dentition, signified by having both baby and adult teeth. As you’ll discover below, this makes it an excellent time to spot and take action on any early orthodontic needs.

What is mixed dentition?

Mixed dentition is a key period of a child’s oral development in which their new teeth emerge and baby teeth fall out. Most children enter mixed dentition around the age of 6, when their first adult molars erupt, and the phase lasts until around the age of 12, when they will have lost their last baby teeth. While the exact timing can vary slightly, the overall window for mixed dentition remains roughly the same. 

Every part of your child’s oral development is in motion during mixed dentition: teeth alignment, spacing, bite, and more are all changing, and their jawbone is adapting to accommodate these changes as well. Therefore, it’s important to recognize that certain habits, such as thumb sucking or tongue thrusting, can influence their emerging adult teeth.

As a key phase of oral development, mixed dentition also presents a valuable opportunity to get a head start on orthodontic treatment. Your child’s dentist can monitor their growth and behavior during these formative years to address concerns early, helping your child enjoy smooth development and lasting oral health.

Why This Phase Matters for Orthodontics

During mixed detention, your child’s jaw and facial bones are still forming, making this period an ideal opportunity to gently influence their development. Timely orthodontic evaluations will take advantage of your child’s natural adaptability to make major changes more easily.

As their permanent teeth emerge, early signs of issues, such as crowding, spacing, or bite misalignment, can become visible. While these may not cause major problems at the time, they can worsen without intervention, ultimately meaning your child could require more complex treatment if you do not take action now.

For instance, take the common concern over baby teeth that fall out too soon. This will leave gaps that adjacent teeth can move into, and when the adult tooth emerges, it can do so crookedly or impact other teeth in the process. These issues can be addressed effectively when spotted early, preventing long-term orthodontic problems from affecting your child.

There are also bite issues, such an underbite or crossbite, that can emerge during mixed dentition. Identifying these while the jaw is still growing allows for more effective and less invasive corrections instead of long-term treatment or even surgery down the line.

Altogether, it’s easier to guide development now than to correct serious issues later. During mixed dentition, a dentist can shape how your child’s mouth forms and take advantage of its current malleability to achieve the best results with the least invasive treatment options.

How an orthodontic check can help your child.

Your child’s dentist can provide an ortho check to evaluate their development and identify potential issues. The evaluation will focus on jaw development and whether their teeth are erupting in the proper sequence and position, looking for indicators of long-term alignment or function issues.

These evaluations typically involve X-rays or digital scans to gain a full picture of your child’s ongoing development. These will provide a clear view of unerupted adult teeth, which can let your child’s dentist anticipate alignment issues long before they lead to lasting problems. 

That will allow them to tap into a wide variety of early orthodontic treatment options available. When baby teeth are lost too soon, for example, a space maintainer will hold the adjacent teeth in their proper position while waiting for the adult tooth to emerge. And for upper jaws that are too narrow, palatal expanders can gently widen them to ensure sufficient space and avoid crowding and other problems. 

In many cases, early orthodontic intervention can shorten or avoid the need for braces later on, although these can also be part of your child’s overall treatment plan, depending on their specific needs.

Early Orthodontics From Your Pediatric Dentist in Vancouver, WA

Your child could require more extensive and longer-term orthodontic treatments if you don’t take advantage of the mixed dentition phase to spot early care opportunities. If your child is between 6 and 12 years old, now is the time to schedule an ortho check in addition to your kid’s dental checkup. Book an appointment with Must Love Kids today.