Adult Treatment
Treatment at any age, planned around the dental work, gum health and working life you already have.
Specialist orthodontics for children
Early treatment, only when it earns its place
The Australian Society of Orthodontists suggests a first check at about age seven. Most children who see us at seven need nothing yet, and we will tell you so. This page explains what we are looking for, and what we would do if we found it.
- No referral needed
- Specialists since 1984
- Clear quote before you start
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Why seven
Seven is when the jaw is still a question
By about seven, the first adult molars have come through at the back and the adult front teeth are arriving. That combination is the earliest point at which a specialist can see the shape of the finished bite rather than guess at it. Before seven there is not enough adult dentition to read. After about eleven, the upper jaw has begun to fuse and some of the options quietly close.
So seven is not the age we start treating. It is the age we start being able to tell whether treating early would help, and the last age at which a few specific problems are simple rather than difficult.
Room for what is coming
Adult teeth are wider than the baby teeth they replace. We measure the space that is actually available against the teeth still waiting in the bone, and can see a shortfall years before it shows in the smile.
Teeth heading the wrong way
An adult canine pointed at the root of its neighbour is a problem worth catching. On an x-ray at eight or nine it is often a matter of making room. Left until it is stuck, it becomes surgical.
A jaw that is growing crooked
A crossbite that makes the lower jaw shift sideways to bite is not a tooth problem, it is a growth problem, and every year it runs it becomes more of one.
Habits still doing damage
Thumb sucking and mouth breathing change the shape of a growing palate. Stopping them at seven usually settles the bite on its own. At thirteen it does not.
Most children go home with a review date, not a treatment plan
Early treatment is worth doing when it changes the outcome, and not otherwise. In practice that means the majority of seven year olds we assess are simply put on our growth review list and seen again as they develop. Nobody is talked into an appliance because they came in early.
There is no cost to stay on the review list, and no obligation to treat with us if the time ever comes.
Two short phases, with a long quiet gap between them
The thing parents are never told is that early treatment is not one continuous course. It is a short first phase, then years of nothing, then a second phase once the adult teeth are all in. Knowing that in advance changes how the whole thing feels.
Roughly 7 to 10Phase one
About 6 to 12 months
A single targeted problem, corrected while the jaw is still growing and will still respond.
- One appliance with one job, not a full set of braces
- Usually a plate, an expander or braces on the front teeth only
- Short visits, often six to eight weeks apart
- Finishes and comes out, it does not run into phase two
Roughly 10 to 12The watching years
One to three years
Nothing in the mouth. We simply see your child now and then while the rest of the adult teeth arrive.
- No appliance, no adjustments, nothing to clean around
- A short review appointment as they develop
- We track the canines and the second molars as they come through
- Phase two is planned from what actually happened, not from a prediction
Roughly 12 to 14Phase two
Commonly 12 to 24 months
The full adult set is in, and braces or aligners finish the alignment and the bite.
- Braces or clear aligners across the whole arch
- Planned with the space and the growth phase one has already bought
- The same specialist who saw your child at seven
- Retainers at the end, which is what protects the result
Not every child needs both phases. Some need only phase two, some need only a short phase one, and many need neither. The point of coming at seven is to find out which of those is true for your child while all three are still options.
Things worth mentioning to us
None of these mean your child needs treatment. They are the things that are hard to judge from the outside and easy for us to check. Tick anything you have noticed and see where it lands.
0of 12ticked
0 of 12 ticked. Nothing standing out. That is the common answer, and it is a good one. A check at around seven is still worth doing, because the things we look for on an x-ray are not visible from where you are standing.
This is a prompt for a conversation, not an assessment. Nothing here can tell you whether your child needs treatment, and nothing you tick is sent to us.
What it actually is
Early treatment is rarely braces
When parents picture early treatment they picture a mouthful of metal for three years. Phase one is almost never that. These are the appliances it usually means, and how long each is normally worn for.
Expander
Widens a narrow upper jaw
A small fixed frame across the roof of the mouth with a screw that is turned a fraction at a time at home. It widens the upper jaw itself rather than tipping the teeth outward, which is only possible while the two halves of the palate are still separate.
- Wearing it
- Fixed in place, so nothing to remember. Speech feels odd for a few days and then stops being noticeable.
- How long
- Turned for weeks, then left in for months
Plate
Moves a few teeth, comes out to eat
A removable acrylic plate with fine wires, used to tip individual teeth into place, hold space where a baby tooth has gone early, or correct a single tooth biting the wrong way. The simplest thing we make, and often the only thing a child needs.
- Wearing it
- Out for meals, sport and brushing. Works only as well as it is worn, which is the honest catch with every removable appliance.
- How long
- Usually 6 to 12 months
Partial braces
Braces on the front teeth only
Brackets on the adult teeth that have arrived, leaving the baby teeth alone. Used when a specific tooth has come through badly out of line, or to make room for a canine that is heading the wrong way, without committing to full treatment years early.
- Wearing it
- Fitted like ordinary braces but on a handful of teeth, so there is far less to clean around.
- How long
- Usually 6 to 12 months
Habit appliance
Interrupts thumb sucking or tongue thrust
A small wire fitted behind the upper front teeth that removes the satisfaction from thumb sucking without anyone having to nag. Fitted only once a child genuinely wants to stop, because it works with them rather than against them.
- Wearing it
- Fixed, and invisible from outside. Most children stop within weeks of it going in.
- How long
- Usually around 6 months
The money
What it costs, and what it does not
The other thing nobody publishes. We will not put a figure on a treatment we have not seen, but we can be straight about how the money works before you ring.
No referral needed
You can book an assessment yourself. A referral from your dentist is welcome and useful, but it is not a requirement and it does not change what you pay.
A written quote before anything starts
If we do recommend treatment you leave with the full cost of that course in writing, including the review visits and the retainers at the end. No decision is asked for on the day.
Payment plans
Treatment is normally paid across its length rather than upfront. We will set out the plan options alongside the quote so you can see the monthly figure, not just the total.
Health funds, not Medicare
Medicare does not cover orthodontic treatment, and the Child Dental Benefits Schedule does not extend to it either. Most extras policies do include orthodontics, usually with a waiting period and an annual and lifetime limit. We can give you the item numbers to check your cover before you commit.
Two phases, quoted separately
Phase one and phase two are separate courses of treatment years apart, so they are quoted separately. Ask us at the assessment how the two relate for your child before you plan around either.
Want it checked against your own cover?
Reception can tell you what to ask your fund and what an assessment involves. It is a five minute call and it is what they are there for.
FAQs
Questions parents actually ask
The questions parents ring up and ask before they book. If yours is not here, call the practice and ask it.
Yes, if you want the question settled. Dentists are looking after decay, gums and eruption, and most will refer when something is obvious. Several of the things that matter most at this age, particularly the path an unerupted canine is taking, only show on an orthodontic x-ray. Coming in without a referral is completely normal here.
Not in the sense most people mean. Phase one is usually a plate, an expander or braces on a few front teeth, worn for six to twelve months and then finished. There are typically years with nothing in the mouth before phase two begins, and plenty of children who have phase one never need a full second phase at all.
Too young to be treating, usually. Not too young to be assessed. The great majority of children we see at seven are put on a review list and simply watched. The assessment exists so that the small number who would genuinely benefit from acting early are not missed.
For most children, nothing at all. Treatment at twelve or thirteen works very well and is what we do most of. The exceptions are the growth problems: a narrow upper jaw, a jaw that shifts sideways to bite, an impacted canine, or a habit that is still reshaping the palate. Those are the ones where waiting narrows what can be done without surgery or extractions.
Allow about an hour. A specialist examines your child's teeth, bite and jaw, we take photographs and the x-rays we need, and then we talk you through what we found and what we would do about it, if anything. You leave with a plan or a review date, and a written quote if treatment is recommended.
We cannot tell you before we have looked, and we would not want to guess. What we can say is that creating room early is one of the reasons interceptive treatment exists, and whether extractions are part of a plan is something you will be told plainly at the assessment rather than discovered later.
We have a branch practice at Ellenbrook alongside the main rooms on The Avenue in Midland. Longer appointments such as your assessment, records and fitting are generally scheduled at Midland, and shorter routine visits can often be arranged closer to home. Ask reception what is available when you book.
During an active phase, roughly every six to eight weeks for a short adjustment. In between phases, far less often than parents expect, sometimes only once a year. We will tell you the rhythm before you start so you can plan around school and work.
You can, and occasionally families move interstate and have to. It is worth knowing that continuity matters in a two phase plan, because phase two is built on what phase one did. Six specialist orthodontists have practised here since 1984, so if your child stays with us they stay with the same practice throughout.
Not sure whether it is time yet?
Book an assessment and find out. If the answer is wait, we will tell you to wait, and we will tell you what we are waiting for.
Related Services
Explore other treatments we offer for a complete smile journey
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Jaw Surgery
The orthodontics either side of corrective jaw surgery, planned with your oral and maxillofacial surgeon.
Retention
The part that keeps the result. Which retainers, how long you wear them, and what to do if one breaks.