If your child was born with some oral deformities, you know that it is going to be very difficult for your child to eat, drink, and learn how to speak. In a family dental clinic, a dental specialist can help. The dental specialist can create fixtures that will help your child learn to bite and chew, and create some of the more difficult dipthongs in speech. Here is how that works.

Oral Bridges

Infants may need reconstructive surgery if they have cleft palates. Toddlers and older children can use oral bridges to seal gaps and holes in their gums and attach false teeth to help them chew. The dental specialist can take a mold of your older toddler's or child's mouth, form a bridge from the mold, and adhere it to the gums with denture paste. You will also be taught how to help your child put this fixture in his or her mouth, and make sure it is secure.

Replacement Teeth for Those That Never Developed

As your child grows and develops, various new apparatuses will be made to help him or her eat and speak. New ones have to be made often so that the old ones do not look out of place in a larger child's mouth. In some instances when a child's teeth buds did not develop in the womb, your child may not have any teeth in certain spots in his/her mouth. It is then that the dental specialist will look at implants as an option when your child is almost fully grown. Any other teeth that do form and break through the gums can hold onto dental partials so that your child can attend speech and physical therapy.

Tooth Removal for Teeth That Pushed Through in Weird Spots

Oral deformities often cause tooth buds to be misplaced. The result is teeth that push through in the strangest of places, such as the sinus cavities, or the roof of your child's mouth alongside the gaps of a cleft palate. Removing these teeth is not difficult, but the dental specialist will have to determine if the teeth are extra, or if they should have broken through the gums instead. If it is the latter, then the dental specialist will have to plan ahead for implants and other oral devices to replace the misplaced teeth that have to be pulled. Additional oral surgeries may be needed to close the holes in the areas where these misplaced teeth broke through.

For more information, contact a professional such as Olson, Brant N DDS PA.

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