Development

Understanding dental development is part of the speciality of orthodontics.  The dynamic nature of growth can be a complex process which typically results in lots of questions both from families and from the dental community.  We often see patients who have a single important question: “Is this normal?”  We like to see patients early to be able to answer questions about what is normal and what is not.  We frequently see patients who were told that they would definitely need to start orthodontic treatment right away only to have us explain that their dental development is normal and that they can wait to start treatment.  Other times, we have told patients that they should start treatment to address specific concerns that, if not addressed, will result in larger problems.  The cases shown here demonstrate some patients who were told that they can wait and other who should have started treatment.