Early Orthodontic Expansion at Shine Pediatric Dental Co.

One of the ways we promote Early Orthodontic Expansion is through the use of MyoMunchee and MyoBrace. MyoMunchee is an active chewing device made of soft, medical-grade silicone that helps improve oral tone for optimal chewing, breathing, speech, sleep, and overall health.

Chewing is crucial for the development of the jaw, palate, and facial structures. While primitive cultures had diets that required significant chewing effort, modern processed diets often do not. MyoMunchee helps promote healthy development of facial muscle strength, encourages nose breathing and correct resting tongue posture, and assists in maintaining a younger, healthier mouth by keeping face muscles active and strong.

We start introducing MyoMunchee Bebe at 6-18 months of age to help with general oral tone, combat mouth breathing, and be used as an oral motor exerciser. We then advance to MyoMunchee Mini for 18 months to 4 years to wean non-nutritive suck habits (thumb sucking), correct open bites, and improve oral motor tone and function.

Dr. Severson is currently offering Invisalign First for ages 4 and up to 9 years old, with the potential to treat even a cooperative and compliant 3 year old.Invisalign First is a revolutionary treatment that provides early orthodontic intervention and arch expansion with clear aligners, making it easier and more comfortable for young children to undergo orthodontic treatment.

The benefits of Invisalign First include all of the benefits of traditional fixed expansion mentioned above, as well as making it easier for the child to maintain good oral hygiene for the dentition due to there being no fixed metal brackets, bands, springs etc on the teeth. Another benefit of Invisialign is that teeth are intentionally individually aligned and moved as prescribed by the provider, whereas with traditional fixed metal expanders, the arch is expanded, but teeth are not individually moved into optimal position with a fixed appliance alone.

In our clinical experience, young children tend to be very compliant and comfortable wearing and changing their clear aligners.

If clear aligners are something you are interested in helping to guide the jaw growth and expand your child's developing arches, give us a call and we would love to get you scheduled for a consultation!

Dr. Sarah does offer traditional fixed expander appliances that may vary in design for both upper and lower dental arches. Done at the young age of 3-9 years, skeletal expansion can be obtained to help develop nice broad smiles in your child and really minimize the chance of the permanent tooth erupting with moderate to severe crowding and also prevents impaction of teeth due to limited space.

This option is great for arches that are very small and constricted, where primary crowding may be appreciated, as well as crossbites and underbites. Developing the arches early helps to provide more intraoral space for the tongue and ultimately can increase the upper airway volume, which will help your child's overall wellness.