Timing of Orthodontic Treatment (Part I)

The need and demand for orthodontic treatment has been studied in many countries around the world. Much of the discussion of this topic has centered around who should receive treatment and at what age. The examinations of school children have mostly been done by orthodontists with assistance from residents and outcomes have varied from country to country. In this review we will look at some of these studies and their findings to get a better idea of the size of the problem and what criteria have been used. Much has been said and written about the timing and in recent years several studies have been addressing this challenging problem. In this review we shall look at the most common types of malocclusions and suggest the most appropriate time for their correction based on several important factors that we aim to discuss in this review. Orthodontists often treat a patient when he or she shows up in the office the first time without paying much attention to choosing the most ideal time for treatment. However, in countries where systematic examination of school children for malocclusions is not undertaken it becomes more random when treatment is started and therefore the time of treatment may not always be ideal. In this review we shall look at the most preferable treatment time in relation to the type of malocclusion, stage of dental development and skeletal maturation of the patient. We shall further discuss the benefits of early interceptive treatment in the mixed dentition compared to later treatment in the full permanent dentition, and outline which malocclusions benefit the most from each.