Published on January 3, 2018, Updated on January 3, 2018
Straight teeth achieved through orthodontics can give your child a gift that keeps on giving throughout their lives. This holiday season, consider what a straight smile can do to keep your child smiling from ear to ear. Advances in orthodontics and modern technology offer invisible braces or braces that pop with color! There is something for everyone! Children aren’t the only ones that benefit from the gift of braces. Adults are reaping benefits too! Learn how you can transform your smile and your overall health through orthodontic treatment.
When people think of braces, they tend to picture teenagers, but adults and children also make up a large percentage of braces wearers. However, did you know that about 1/4th of all people that wear braces are children? Children receive braces at a young age to correct orthodontic issues that can become severe later on in life. The American Association of Orthodontists recommends that your child should have their first orthodontic appointment by age 7. This is a time when we can detect bite and alignment issues and correct them before the jaw grows and becomes harder. Orthodontic treatment is much easier on children as their jaws are still growing.
With child orthodontics, we can not only help children to have a straight smile later on in life, but we can make sure that their mouth has enough room for all of their adult teeth. If a bite problem (overbite, underbite, crossbite, etc.) is present, we can correct it when young. If not treated early-on, bite and alignment problems can cause speech impediments and can hinder a child’s ability to talk, eat, bite or chew correctly. These problems can hinder their progress in school and with their health. Generally, we perform child orthodontics around age 7 or 8 to correct bite and alignment. Later on (around ages 11 or 12), we provide a child with braces once more so that they can have a straight smile once their permanent teeth come in.
There have been many studies about straight teeth and if it affects a person’s life. Many studies (such as those conducted by Invisalign and The New York Times), have found that a straight smile can increase a person’s confidence immensely. In a study by Invisalign, they found that those who had a straight smile felt 60% happier, more attractive and more successful. They were also perceived by others as having those same qualities. A better smile has also been shown to get people ahead professionally and socially. In studies, those who have a straight smile have a better chance at landing a job over someone who doesn’t have one.
Not only are straight smiles beneficial for adults, but they are beneficial for children and teenagers as well. Confidence directly correlates to success in school, home life and professional life. Children benefit from that confidence as well. School is a time of growing and learning for children. When they feel better about their appearance, they feel more confident. When they are more confident, they get better grades, make friends easier and achieve more.
There are various orthodontic options available to patients. It may be no surprise to you that traditional metal braces are the most popular braces option for children. Traditional metal braces have been around for decades and they work amazingly well for getting those pearly whites straight. We love this option for all patients, as it works well and is quite economical compared to other choices. Children can achieve a straight smile primarily through metal braces or ceramic braces.
Metal braces consist of metal brackets that are cemented to the center of each individual tooth. This is the most popular option amongst all of our patients. The brackets we use have an archwire that connects all of them together. This is what we tighten each time your child comes in for their visit. Over time, that tightening of the archwire and bracket is what moves the teeth into that straight smile your child wants.
We also offer Clarity ADVANCED Ceramic Braces by 3M at our office. Clear braces are great for children or teens alike that want braces, but don’t want them to be as noticeable as metal brackets are. Ceramic brackets are white already, so they will blend in with the teeth better. However, we believe that braces can and should be fun. That’s why most of our child patients couple their clear braces with colorful bands that stand out. These bands are placed around each bracket that is cemented to the teeth. Children can choose the same color for all their brackets, or they can have a rainbow of colors. Choosing the colors for their smile is one of children’s favorite parts of braces. Plus, the ceramic material of these kinds of braces will decrease the risk of demineralization from bonding agents and brackets.
Adults and children alike can benefit from a straight smile. Not only will a straighter smile increase confidence, but it can make a person more successful. If you want to know more about child orthodontics or braces for yourself, contact Hardy Pediatric Dentistry & Orthodontics today at (720) 887-6003!
We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of circumstance and ability.
To fulfill this, we aim to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at the AA level. These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide array of disabilities. Complying with those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible to all people: blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairment, cognitive disabilities, and more.
This website utilizes various technologies that are meant to make it as accessible as possible at all times. We utilize an accessibility interface that allows persons with specific disabilities to adjust the website’s UI (user interface) and design it to their personal needs.
Additionally, the website utilizes an AI-based application that runs in the background and optimizes its accessibility level constantly. This application remediates the website’s HTML, adapts Its functionality and behavior for screen-readers used by the blind users, and for keyboard functions used by individuals with motor impairments.
If you’ve found a malfunction or have ideas for improvement, we’ll be happy to hear from you. You can reach out to the website’s operators by using the following email
Our website implements the ARIA attributes (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) technique, alongside various different behavioral changes, to ensure blind users visiting with screen-readers are able to read, comprehend, and enjoy the website’s functions. As soon as a user with a screen-reader enters your site, they immediately receive a prompt to enter the Screen-Reader Profile so they can browse and operate your site effectively. Here’s how our website covers some of the most important screen-reader requirements, alongside console screenshots of code examples:
Screen-reader optimization: we run a background process that learns the website’s components from top to bottom, to ensure ongoing compliance even when updating the website. In this process, we provide screen-readers with meaningful data using the ARIA set of attributes. For example, we provide accurate form labels; descriptions for actionable icons (social media icons, search icons, cart icons, etc.); validation guidance for form inputs; element roles such as buttons, menus, modal dialogues (popups), and others. Additionally, the background process scans all of the website’s images and provides an accurate and meaningful image-object-recognition-based description as an ALT (alternate text) tag for images that are not described. It will also extract texts that are embedded within the image, using an OCR (optical character recognition) technology. To turn on screen-reader adjustments at any time, users need only to press the Alt+1 keyboard combination. Screen-reader users also get automatic announcements to turn the Screen-reader mode on as soon as they enter the website.
These adjustments are compatible with all popular screen readers, including JAWS and NVDA.
Keyboard navigation optimization: The background process also adjusts the website’s HTML, and adds various behaviors using JavaScript code to make the website operable by the keyboard. This includes the ability to navigate the website using the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, operate dropdowns with the arrow keys, close them with Esc, trigger buttons and links using the Enter key, navigate between radio and checkbox elements using the arrow keys, and fill them in with the Spacebar or Enter key.Additionally, keyboard users will find quick-navigation and content-skip menus, available at any time by clicking Alt+1, or as the first elements of the site while navigating with the keyboard. The background process also handles triggered popups by moving the keyboard focus towards them as soon as they appear, and not allow the focus drift outside of it.
Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.
We aim to support the widest array of browsers and assistive technologies as possible, so our users can choose the best fitting tools for them, with as few limitations as possible. Therefore, we have worked very hard to be able to support all major systems that comprise over 95% of the user market share including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera and Microsoft Edge, JAWS and NVDA (screen readers), both for Windows and for MAC users.
Despite our very best efforts to allow anybody to adjust the website to their needs, there may still be pages or sections that are not fully accessible, are in the process of becoming accessible, or are lacking an adequate technological solution to make them accessible. Still, we are continually improving our accessibility, adding, updating and improving its options and features, and developing and adopting new technologies. All this is meant to reach the optimal level of accessibility, following technological advancements. For any assistance, please reach out to