Last updated: September 2026
Most parents ask this at one of two moments. Either the adult front teeth have arrived looking considerably too big for the space available, or another family at school has just started their child in braces and the question becomes whether yours is behind.
The answer is not a single age, and it is not the same answer for every child. But there is a window where a developing bite becomes readable, and there is a shorter list of things worth acting on early than most people assume.
Here is how the timing actually works, what early treatment can and cannot do, and what you can reasonably spot yourself at the kitchen table.
Before the adult teeth start arriving there is very little to assess. A mouth full of baby teeth with gaps between them is a good sign, not a bad one, because those gaps are the room the larger adult teeth will need.
The picture becomes readable when the first adult molars come through at the back and the adult incisors arrive at the front, which for most children happens somewhere between six and eight. At that point several things become visible at once: whether the upper and lower arches meet correctly across the back, whether the front teeth have anywhere near enough room, and whether the jaws are developing at similar rates.
For families in and around Croydon who are already coming in for regular check ups, this is not a separate event on the calendar. It falls somewhere in the Year 1 to Year 3 range, whether that is at Yarra Road Primary, Croydon Hills Primary, Tinternvale Primary, Sacred Heart or Great Ryrie, and the assessment is part of the routine visit. We look at how the teeth meet, take the imaging that is appropriate for the age, and tell you one of three things: nothing needs doing, something is worth monitoring at each visit, or something is better addressed now than later.
Most children fall into the middle category. Monitoring is not a soft answer or a way of avoiding a decision. Watching a bite develop over two or three visits tells you far more than a single snapshot does, and it means you catch the change at the moment it matters.
Early treatment, sometimes called interceptive treatment, works with growth. That is its whole advantage, and it is the reason timing matters at all. A short list of things fall clearly into this category.
A narrow upper jaw causing a crossbite. If the upper arch is too narrow, the back teeth bite inside the lower ones and the jaw often shifts sideways to find a comfortable closing position. The palate has a growth join running front to back that stays workable through childhood, so the arch can be widened. Leave it until growth is complete and the same correction becomes a much bigger undertaking.
Preserving room after early tooth loss. If a back baby tooth is lost early, the teeth behind it drift forward into the space that was reserved for an adult tooth. A space maintainer holds the gap open. This is a small, unglamorous appliance that prevents a considerably more complicated problem.
Habits. Thumb or finger sucking and tongue thrusting can shape the bite while the bone is soft and responsive. Addressed early, the bite frequently improves on its own once the habit stops.
Very protruded upper front teeth. Front teeth that sit well forward and are not covered by the lip are more exposed to being knocked in a fall or during sport. Reducing that protrusion is partly an injury risk decision, not only an appearance one.
Adult teeth that are not where they should be. Upper canines in particular can develop in the wrong direction and become impacted, and they can damage the roots of neighbouring teeth on the way. This is invisible from the outside and is picked up on imaging. Found early enough, sometimes removing a baby tooth at the right moment is enough to redirect the adult tooth. Found late, the treatment is substantially more involved.
Our page on early interceptive orthodontics covers these situations and the appliances used for them in more detail.
This part is left out of a lot of the material parents read, so we will be direct about it.
Early treatment usually does not remove the need for braces later. In most cases a course of treatment in the primary school years addresses one specific problem, and a full course of alignment still follows once all the adult teeth are through, generally in the early teens. Two phases of treatment are not automatically better than one, and starting earlier does not produce a better final result in every case. For plenty of children, the correct decision at seven is to do nothing yet and look again in a year.
Early treatment also does not lock in a result for life. Teeth move throughout life, which is why retainers exist and why they matter as much as the treatment itself.
And it does not create room that the jaw does not have. Crowding that comes from adult teeth being large relative to the jaw is a size problem, and it is resolved through a proper orthodontic plan when the timing is right, not by starting sooner.
None of these are diagnoses. They are reasons to mention something at the next check up.
One that worries parents unnecessarily: an adult front tooth coming through behind a baby tooth. It is common, especially in the lower jaw, and it usually sorts itself out as the baby tooth loosens. Encourage some wobbling and mention it at the next visit if it has not shifted in a few weeks.
The main course of orthodontic treatment for most people happens once the adult teeth are through, commonly somewhere between eleven and fourteen. In practice that lands in the transition to secondary school, and it is worth planning around before it arrives.
Families heading to Luther College, Tintern Grammar, Aquinas College, Billanook, Ringwood Secondary or Mooroolbark College tend to hit two things at the same time: a busier timetable and a child who has strong opinions about how they look. Both are easier to manage if the assessment happened at seven or eight and you already know roughly what is coming and when.
A practical note on appointments. Once a teenager can travel independently, the geography helps here. Croydon station is on the Lilydale line, so a student coming in from Mooroolbark is one stop, and Ringwood East is one stop the other way. Plenty of adjustment appointments do not need a parent to take an afternoon off. We also run Saturdays from 8:30am to 5:00pm, which covers the appointments that would otherwise mean pulling a child out of class.
On sport: braces and Saturday morning footy or netball at Hookey Park or Eastfield Park are compatible, but a properly fitted custom mouthguard becomes more important, not less. A chemist shelf mouthguard does not fit well over brackets. This is a conversation to have when treatment starts, not after an incident.
It is not an ordeal, and for a child who already comes here for check ups it looks much like a normal visit with a longer look at how things meet.
We check how the teeth come together in all three directions, look at the space available compared with the size of the teeth still to arrive, check for habits and for the way the lips and tongue rest, and take imaging appropriate to the age and the question. Where an adult canine may be developing in the wrong direction, a three dimensional view answers the question properly, and our cone beam CT scanner is on site, so there is no separate referral to an imaging clinic and no second trip.
Where records are needed for planning, we use an intraoral scanner rather than impression material. Anybody who has tried to hold a tray of impression putty in the mouth of an eight year old with a strong gag reflex will understand why that matters. The scan is a small handheld wand, the child can watch their own teeth appear on the screen, and it takes minutes.
We do not have an orthodontist at this practice, and we do not have registered specialists. That is worth saying plainly on a page about orthodontic timing, because you deserve to know who you are talking to.
What that means in practice: we assess developing bites as part of ordinary care, we provide traditional braces and aligner treatment for cases that suit general practice, and we refer to a specialist orthodontist when a case calls for one. Complex jaw discrepancies, significantly impacted teeth and cases likely to involve surgical planning belong with a specialist, and we will tell you that rather than take it on. Where we do refer, we send the records and imaging with the referral so the process does not start from scratch.
Our children's dentistry page covers routine care for children more broadly, and our overview of orthodontic options in Croydon compares the treatment types for older children and adults.
We do not publish orthodontic prices, because the figure depends entirely on what treatment a particular case needs and for how long. A short interceptive appliance worn for several months and a full course of braces over two years are different treatments with different costs, and quoting one at the other would be misleading.
Two things are worth knowing in advance.
The Child Dental Benefits Schedule does not cover orthodontics. It covers general services such as examinations, x-rays, cleaning, fissure sealants, fillings and extractions for eligible children, which is a real help with routine care but not with braces. Our page on the CDBS explains what it does cover and how to check eligibility.
Health fund extras commonly place orthodontics under a separate lifetime limit with its own waiting period, often longer than the waiting period for general dental. If treatment is likely to be a few years away, that is an argument for checking the policy now rather than in the month you want to start. Our private health insurance page lists the funds we are preferred providers with, and your fund is the authority on your own limits.
Have the bite looked at once the adult front teeth and first adult molars are through, somewhere around seven. For most children the outcome will be to keep an eye on it. For a smaller group, acting at that point is easier than acting later, and a crossbite is the clearest example. Do not expect early treatment to remove the need for braces later, and be wary of anyone who suggests it will.
Call (03) 9725 8040 or book online. We are at 59 Wicklow Avenue, Croydon, open Monday to Friday 8:30am to 6:00pm and Saturday 8:30am to 5:00pm, and we are happy to fold the assessment into a routine check up rather than making it a separate visit.
Child Dental Benefits Schedule eligibility and coverage are set by Services Australia. Health fund benefits vary by policy and are set by your fund. This article is general information, not personal dental advice; your dentist will assess your individual clinical need.