3-year-old told to wear braces 24 hours a day
Children's "Tooth Fever"
It's time to cool down
● Some doctors believe that when children are 8 to 10 years old, the development of the maxilla is the most active, and it is the best time to do anterior traction for the treatment of bony underbite.
● At present, the commercial children's dental institutions on the market vary in level.
In order to attract customers, some businesses deliberately create anxiety and mislead parents with the marketing rhetoric that the sooner the better the treatment, which not only leads to the increasingly younger age of orthodontic treatment, but also leads to the repeated occurrence of medical disputes and medical accidents.
● For some businesses that falsely advertise, sell "orthodontic anxiety", and infringe on consumers' rights and interests, the regulatory authorities should take severe measures to rectify them, crack down on false copywriting on social media, urge medical institutions to regulate their operations, and prohibit illegal operations.
It is possible to explore and formulate the standard of orthodontic treatment for children, and determine the age group suitable for orthodontic treatment. Unless special circumstances, it is strictly prohibited to perform orthodontic treatment in violation of regulations.
□ Zhang Shoukun, a trainee reporter of this newspaper
□ Our reporter Chen Lei
Found that the baby was a bit "overwhelmed", Ms. Mei, a resident of Fuzhou, Fujian, put on a 3-year-old child with an active orthosis at the suggestion of an orthodontist at a local chain of dental clinics.
With orthodontics all the rage, Mrs May's move is not surprising.
The "Rule of Law Daily" reporter recently consulted 6 chain dental clinics in Beijing, Tianjin and other places and learned that more and more parents are consulting and doing orthodontics for children aged two or three in recent years, and the price of orthodontic treatment for young children is generally 3,500 yuan. To six or seven thousand yuan, if the treatment period is long and invisible aligners are used, the cost may reach tens of thousands of yuan.
Some dental clinics even recommend that children one and a half years old wear braces.
Behind this phenomenon are parents' "appearance anxiety" and businessmen's marketing tactics.
For example, some businesses claim that the earlier the dental malformation is treated, the lower the cost of time and money, the better the effect and no recurrence.
Is this really the case?
What are the effects of premature orthodontic correction in children?
With these questions, the reporter conducted an interview.
Children's orthodontic treatment increases
Dialectical view of needs
Seeing that the baby was very uncomfortable wearing the braces, Ms. Mei felt distressed and shortened the wearing time.
The results of the re-examination after a month showed that there was no effect.
Seeing this, the doctor asked the child to wear the braces 24 hours a day, and explained that "it will be painful to eat at the beginning, and it will be difficult to get used to it." At the same time, it is recommended to wear the braces for half a year. Monthly follow-up.
A customer service staff of a dental clinic told reporters: "Early correction can prevent children from becoming bony encephalitis and help the face to grow normally. Generally speaking, it can be treated at the age of 3 to 5, and the effect is better. If it is congenital underbite , the child will continue to have two cycles of treatment at 6 to 8 years old and 12 to 17 years old."
So, can two or three-year-old children have orthodontics?
Is Orthodontics Safe for Young Children?
Xu Baohua, Chief Physician of Beijing China-Japan Friendship Hospital, combined with the results of foreign surveys, found that the development of the maxilla is the most active in children at the age of 8 to 10 years.
Some doctors also believe that bad habits and developmental deformities, such as small chin, left and right facial asymmetry, severe crooked teeth and severe tooth crowding, abnormal facial muscle function, all affect the normal development of facial bones and oral function. As long as the child cooperates, the sooner the correction effect is better, but generally after the age of 3.
Wang Lin, an orthodontist at Wangbiao Dental Clinic in Suzhou City, Anhui Province, told reporters that oral problems vary from patient to patient and symptoms vary, and the time for orthodontic treatment often takes several months or even more than a year.
Parents should take their children for oral examinations regularly from a young age, or if they find that there is a problem with the growth of their children's teeth, they should promptly check with the doctor about the situation and the best time for treatment.
Correction too early may directly affect the development of deciduous teeth and the replacement of permanent teeth. Correction too late may lead to obvious facial deformities and affect oral function and health.
"If the child's teeth are only slightly misaligned, generally speaking, it does not have much impact, and it will become normal if it grows naturally. If the child's teeth are misaligned due to bad habits, such as biting a pen, chewing fingernails, etc., parents need to Correct and supervise children to get rid of these bad habits; if it is difficult to change habits, it is generally recommended that parents choose functional correction for early preventive correction." Wang Lin said that this type of functional correction will not use wire braces, which can reduce the impact on children's teeth. It is more comfortable to wear, and there will be no strong oral foreign body sensation.
Create an atmosphere of anxiety
uneven levels
Ms. Li, a resident of Hedong District, Tianjin, has a daughter who is in the second grade of primary school.
In April of this year, Ms. Li found that many students in her child's class were wearing braces, so she thought about buying her daughter a brace to make her "beautiful".
The reporter found in the interview that the motivation for some parents to pay attention to orthodontics is not only to make the oral cavity healthier, but also to consider the appearance.
Under the influence of the "appearance economy", coupled with the grass notes in various apps, business promotions, etc., appearance anxiety has been "rolled" to the teeth, and a neat white tooth has become the standard of current high appearance.
Some businesses have seized on the parent's mentality and advocated that "the sooner the dental malformation is treated, the lower the time and money cost", "basically no recurrence", "good-looking will be liked by people" and so on.
According to Deng Liqiang, executive director of the Chinese Society of Health Law and deputy director of Beijing Huawei Law Firm, these marketing tricks of merchants are one of the important reasons for the excessively younger orthodontic market.
"Children's minds are not yet mature. If the so-called 'beauty' is excessively pursued, deformed aesthetics may be formed in the future, which is not conducive to the growth of children. In addition, considering the humane care for young children and the orthodontic process may have psychological effects on young children Influence, and do not advocate blindly premature correction." Deng Liqiang said.
In addition, Wang Lin reminded that orthodontics and plastic surgery are two different things, and orthodontics is a medical practice.
But it is undeniable that after correction, a person's facial shape is often improved, and the front and side faces, chin lines, etc. may be different than before.
According to iiMedia Research, in the past five years, the market size of China's oral medical industry has grown at an average annual rate of 16%. By 2020, the market size has exceeded 100 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.8%. The scale will reach 1 trillion yuan.
However, with the rapid development of the oral medical industry, the number of professional orthodontists in the domestic orthodontic market is very few and the gap is huge.
The "2022 Global and China Invisible Orthodontics Industry Blue Book" released by CIC on April 11 this year pointed out that taking the data of 2020 as an example, there are about 158,400 general dentists and 10,800 orthodontists in the United States, which is equivalent to every 10 There are 47.8 general dentists and 3.3 orthodontists among the 10,000 people.
In comparison, there are about 277,500 general dentists and 6,100 orthodontists in China, which is equivalent to only 19.5 general dentists and 0.4 orthodontists per 100,000 people, which is significantly lower than that of countries with more developed stomatology. The gap is huge.
Reporter interviews found that there are still problems in the orthodontic market, such as false publicity by institutions and low-cost induced consumption.
After the reporter posted a comment on a social platform "I want to do orthodontics for my child", he soon received a private letter from a customer service assistant of a dental clinic to straighten his teeth for free, saying that anyone with uneven teeth, crooked teeth, or "the sky is the limit". ”, sparse teeth and other problems, you can come to the store to participate in the free experience of orthodontic plan activities, including oral panoramic lateral radiography and oral CT, digital oral scan analysis, predict the effect of correction in advance, and one-on-one consultation with orthodontic experts.
However, after further consultation, the reporter learned that it is necessary to pay in installments to participate in this activity.
Many netizens complained on the third-party monitoring platform that the clinic still has many unheard items that need to be charged.
On some social platforms, the reporter found that some organizations attract customers by recruiting traffic bloggers to promote invisible braces products, and publish user experience and positive reviews.
The graphic content posted by some of these bloggers turned out to be falsely compiled based on propaganda copy.
The administrative penalty information released by the Shanghai Municipal Administration for Market Regulation shows that on December 16, 2020, Shanghai Qumo Culture Communication Co., Ltd. and Smartee Dental signed a "Service Order", which was agreed on from December 15, 2020 to 2021. On February 10, Smartee Dental randomly recruited 400 traffic bloggers through Shanghai Qumo Culture Communication Co., Ltd. to promote the invisible braces products it sells on an e-commerce platform App.
A number of interviewed industry insiders pointed out that with the growing trend of orthodontics at a younger age, some dental clinics with questionable qualifications and suspected false propaganda are likely to become the institutions of choice for children's orthodontics, which will bring extreme benefits to children. big risk.
"At present, the level of commercial children's dental institutions on the market is uneven. In order to attract customers, some businesses deliberately create anxiety and mislead parents with marketing words that the sooner the correction, the better. This not only leads to an increasingly younger age of orthodontics, but also This leads to repeated medical disputes and medical accidents." Deng Liqiang said.
establish the correct concept
work together to solve problems
How to cool down the overly young oral market?
Wang Yue, a professor at the School of Medical Humanities of Peking University, told reporters that the younger age of children's orthodontics is similar to the abuse of growth hormone that was rectified by the country before. therapeutic behavior.
"For excessive medical behavior, on the one hand, the offenders should be punished accordingly; on the other hand, the relevant experts of the medical industry association should give timely feedback on this medical disorder, and carry out positive reflection and education through social media to make the public realize that it is too early. Or excessive orthodontic treatment for children may have side effects and adverse consequences for children." Wang Yue said.
On August 1, 2021, the Chinese Stomatological Association issued a statement stating that it strongly opposes and boycotts people without medical qualifications to engage in oral cosmetic activities, and clearly points out that the disposal of teeth is a medical behavior, and there is no concept of "non-medical cosmetic teeth". Directly refers to the compliance of oral beauty, causing widespread concern.
Recently, the National Health and Medical Commission issued the "Notice on Carrying out the Special Inspection Action of National Private Hospitals in 2022", requiring that from March 2022, a one-year special inspection action of national private hospitals will be organized.
Jiangsu Province has also issued the "Guidelines for the Supervision and Law Enforcement of Commercial Advertising Endorsements", which prohibits advertising in disguised form as "planting grass".
Deng Liqiang believes that medical institutions should follow medical standards and norms, put the health interests of patients first, and strictly abide by the principles of scientific treatment.
For some businesses that falsely advertise, sell "orthodontic anxiety", and infringe on consumers' rights and interests, the regulatory authorities should take severe measures to rectify them, crack down on false copywriting on social media, urge medical institutions to regulate their operations, and prohibit illegal operations.
It is possible to explore and formulate the standard of orthodontic treatment for children, and determine the age group suitable for orthodontic treatment. Unless there are special circumstances, it is strictly forbidden to carry out orthodontic treatment in violation of regulations.
"Only the joint efforts of consumers, operators and regulators can solve the problem of excessively young age in the orthodontic market." Deng Liqiang said.