11.02.2025
The first appointment belongs earlier than you might think
Many parents only get in touch once all the permanent teeth are there. That is an understandable, but late, point in time. In the mixed dentition the jaw is still growing, and this very growth is the most effective tool orthodontics has – it costs nothing and can be guided.
The professional societies therefore recommend a first check-up between the ages of seven and nine. It does not mean that treatment begins. In most cases the result is: keep watching, come back in a year. That is exactly the point of the appointment.
Only a small proportion of findings truly call for early treatment – a pronounced crossbite, for instance, a severe overbite with a risk of injury, or a sucking habit that is deforming the jaw. Identifying these cases is the real value of the early appointment.
Those who miss it rarely lose the possibility of treatment, but often the simplest one.