Yes children do get cranky when teething since they may experience the signs like drooling, irritability, restlessness, and loss of appetite. Fever, illness, and diarrhoea are not symptoms of teething. If your child presents with the latter signs, they need to be evaluated by your doctor. The best solution to comfort the child is to have the child chew on a cold or frozen rubber teething ring. Topical anesthetics/ gels are NOT advisable.

Milk teeth are important not only for chewing, but also for speech and for normal development of jaws. They play an important role in preserving spaces for the permanent teeth developing underneath. They also play an important role in developing good self-esteem of a child. It is very important to look after them. We recommend dental check-up for young ones as early as 3 years.

In situations When milk teeth are very badly decayed and not salvageable, they my have to be extracted. If milk teeth are removed, it is important to put a space maintainer to preserve space for the erupting permanent teeth. If space maintainer is not put, the erupting permanent teeth may get impacted, due to loss of space.

The braces apply continuous, slow pressure over a period of time on the teeth and help in moving them into the proper positions. Bands, wires and elastics are placed on the teeth to move them in the right direction. Moving teeth into a functional and an esthetically pleasing position can take a few months to years depending on the amount of correction required, the age, the severity of the case and also the motivation levels of the patient.

An orthodontic evaluation should start at the age of 6 years. We, as orthodontists, would examine your child and guide you further for the timing of the treatment. The misconception that braces can only work for kids is not true as people of any age can avail for this type of treatment with newer treatment options like invisible, ceramic and lingual braces.

Please take your child to an Orthodontist. Doctor would examine the child and decide the action plan to help the child to stop the habit. Habit breaking appliance and very caring counselling would definitely help you and the child. Subsequently, the child may need braces for aligning the teeth.