The Age 7 Rule

Many parents follow the “Wait and See” approach. They wait until their child is 12 or 13 and has lost all their baby teeth before calling an orthodontist.

In 90% of cases, this is fine. In 10% of cases, it is a permanent error.

Why Age 7?

At age 7, the first permanent molars and incisors have usually erupted. This gives us our first look at the “Architecture” of the bite. We are checking three specific things:

1. Crossbite: Is the upper jaw too narrow? If we catch this at age 7, we can widen the jaw painlessly with an expander because the palate hasn’t fused yet. If we wait until age 13, that window begins to close.
2. Impacted Canines: Are the adult eye teeth stuck in the bone? We can sometimes remove a baby tooth early to create a path for the adult tooth to erupt naturally, avoiding surgery later.
3. Underbite: Is the lower jaw growing faster than the upper jaw? This is a skeletal issue that must be addressed during a growth spurt.

The “Monstagrin” Monitoring Program

Here is the secret: Most 7-year-olds do NOT need braces.

If you bring your child in and everything looks normal, we put them in our Monstagrin Growth Guidance program. This means we see them every 6-12 months for a free check-up.

• We measure growth.
• We track eruption.
• We wait.

We wait for the perfect time to start—usually when the last baby teeth are loose (around age 11-12). By timing it perfectly, we can often shorten the time in braces to just 12-18 months.

Screening early doesn’t mean starting early. It means starting right.