A majority of people who get dental braces are teenagers or pre-teens. A common question asked by parents of teens and pre-teens is when to start the orthodontic treatment? Is it after the wisdom teeth have erupted and, Is it needed to get your wisdom teeth extracted before starting orthodontic treatment at all?  Let us explore.

Well, to answer that question you need to understand Dental Braces and Wisdom Teeth and how they may or may not affect each other.

More about Dental Braces and Wisdom Teeth

Braces are dental devices that are used in orthodontic treatment to align, to position and to straighten the teeth. This is done to improve the quality of an individual’s bite and their overall oral health. Usually, a dental brace is a component that consists of a bracket and a wire. Dental braces are fixtures that apply pressure and force to the teeth to correct its position.

Wisdom teeth are the third set of molars that emerge around a person’s late teens or early 20’s. Wisdom teeth can emerge earlier in some people. Wisdom teeth are extracted if they are impacted.  But it is absolutely fine to retain them if they are not impacting and they are erupting properly. It needs to also be kept in mind that some people might not have one or any of the wisdom teeth at all.

Wait for Wisdom Teeth Eruption?

So, does that mean you should wait till your wisdom teeth erupt to start any orthodontic treatment? Not really. It is true that starting an orthodontic treatment earlier and younger can make the treatment procedure less complicated. There are many orthodontic conditions that can be addressed and fixed easily during childhood or in pre-teen years. It needs to be kept in mind that getting orthodontic treatment as an adult can cause prolongation of treatment time.

Now coming to the point, if the wisdom teeth have erupted and impacted or show signs of erupting and getting impacted or has not erupted but already has impacted within the gums, your dentist will recommend it to be removed before any orthodontic treatment procedure starts. So usually the dentists determine the status of the wisdom teeth before giving you a plan for the orthodontic treatment. If any extraction of wisdom tooth is ever recommended, it needs to be understood that the same is part of the orthodontic treatment plan.