Dr. Paul Duryea
“It’s summertime when the living is easy” many of us remember that old classic and the memories of past summertime adventures. Getting into this summertime season I had a very interesting question poised to me at a recent new patient consult. I was asked by a young Patients mother that “Wasn’t it true that if the patient is older when we treat them the teeth will stay better in their new position”. According to this Mother this is what had been told to her by friends.
Unfortunately this is another “old wives tale”. So to set the record straight, Age has no direct relationship to long term stability of an Orthodontic end result. What I mean by direct relationship is that the position of the teeth will maintain themselves as long as they are retained, no matter how old one is. I guess one could argue that a young person may not wear their retainers as well as an older individual and hence see more tooth movement. But it boils down to the individual and their wiliness to follow their Orthodontists recommendations. In all the years that I have been in practice I have seen patients that I have treated at the age of 12 and with good retainer wear see perfect stability at the age of 40. In the converse I have seen patients treated at the age of 40 and by 45 their teeth are moving all over the place due to poor retainer wear.
One thing that summer affords us is that getting your braces on now will allow for adjustment to them prior to the beginning of School, and one less thing to be concerned about starting a new school year.
Please call us today for a complimentary consult and “Let’s get something straight”.
