So many attractive children grow up to be plain teenagers.
This was the concern which brought this group of dentists and orthodontists
together to advise parents about early growth guidance or 'orthotropics'.
The most important thing is for parents to be aware that the growth of the
face can go wrong and that this can be avoided if early action is taken.
If your child's face does not look quite like the other children’s
be concerned. Watch for flattening of the cheeks or an unusual shape around
the mouth because these will almost certainly get worse.
Hanging the mouth open. This is probably the most important single factor.
As you can read on other parts of this site, open mouth postures will cause the
face to grow down to an extent that a child may have difficulty in closing their
lips at all. Once this has happened, it can be very difficult to correct other
than by surgery. Try to persuade your child to keep their mouth closed. From
a young age.
Adverse Growth. The downward (vertical) growth of the face tends to set the jaw back and restrict the size of the throat. In order to breathe more easily, the head is tilted back. Try dropping your jaw an inch and you will see why this is. To restore the balance of the spine the neck is tilted forward. This unbalances the whole vertebral column and osteopaths, physiotherapists and chiropractors find this is a common cause of headaches, neck aches, and long term back trouble.
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A horizontally growing face and a vertically growing face, note how the head is tilted back to enable them to breath. |
Sucking Habits If your child's face does not look quite like the
other Childerns' do seek advice. Strange sucking habits, or swallowing with
the tongue showing, can also distort the teeth and jaws, and may precipitate
a speech impediment. Remember that the only thing that guides the teeth into
position are the lips, the cheeks, the tongue and the other teeth and any
faults in these will be reflected by irregularity of the teeth, followed
later by facial disfigurement.
Spaces. At the age of five there should be spaces between
the front teeth. Their permanent successors which should arrive
about the age of six, are a lot larger, and if there is no space
they will crowd. It is easier to prevent crowding by creating space
than to correct it afterwards.
Crowding. If the lower front teeth are crowded at six years
of age take advice and do not accept a ‘wait and see approach’.
At the very least your child needs to improve their mouth posture.
Unattractive Eyes. If the top jaw grows down, the eyes
look prominent and the outer corner of the eyelids will sag making
them look tired with too much white-of-eye showing. The lower
eyelid will develop a ridge rather than slope smoothly into the
cheek.
Weak Chin. Look at your child sideways and see if you
like the position of the chin. It is likely to be set back if
their mouth is open a lot and they will have a double chin.
Prominent Chin. Children who fidget or are overactive,
may suffer from too much growth of the lower jaw, even more so
if they stick their jaw forward and work it from side to side.
Excessive jaw growth can be very difficult to correct when they
are older. The old wives tale says "if you make faces and
the wind changes it will stick like it".
Excessive Gum. You will notice that good looking people
do not show a lot of gum when they smile. The more gum that
shows the less attractive the face. If a young child shows
a lot of gum their face is growing downwards.
Speech. The tongue should be in the palate for most sounds
and if it protrudes sideways or forwards between the teeth, they
are likely to become displaced. A lisp usually indicates that
the tongue is between the teeth. The lips should come into contact
between most syllables. Ask your child to count up to five and
see how far apart their lips are after the 'five'. If it is more
that 3mm there is a mild problem if more than 7mm a severe problem.
Eating Habits. Many children avoid hard foods this will allow their
muscles to become weak and can be a principal cause of vertical growth. These
habits often develop when the child is first weaned, try to encourage them
to chew hard things but remember that too much persuasion can have the reverse
affect.
Where should the teeth be? To measure the correct position
of the upper front teeth simply put a pencil mark on the forwardmost
point of the nose, and measure from there to the edge of the
upper front teeth. Ideally it should be 28mm at the age of
five and increase one mm each year until puberty, when it should
be 36mm for a girl and 38mm for a boy. Average children in
industrial countries are 3 or 4mm more than this. If it is
more than five millimetres over this there will be some irregularity
of the teeth and disfigurement of the face, and if more than
eight millimetres the child is certain to grow up with an unattractive
face.
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