Early Orthodontics for Children 

Orthodontic treatment is often necessary to ensure your child grows up with a healthy smile and jaw position -- both of which promote comfortable dental function. There aren’t many of us who are pre-dispositioned to have perfectly straight teeth, which is where our Upper West Side pediatric orthodontic treatments become vital to health and wellness.

What is Interceptive Orthodontics?

Early pediatric orthodontics are intended to catch problems early and prevent them from developing into serious misalignment and malocclusion as your child grows into adolescence and adulthood. Issues such as severely crooked teeth, dental crowding, or wide gaps between teeth, can affect your child’s health, confidence, and appearance.

Dr. Lal is committed to providing children with the best in pediatric dental care, including early use of orthodontic appliances to guide teeth and jaws into ideal alignment.

Early Orthodontic Appliances

While many people think of braces when they hear the term orthodontics, there are many other treatments that help create the right shape and symmetry for your child’s smile. Pediatric orthodontics services on the Upper West Side with Dr. Lal include:

Space maintainers
    - Lower lingual arch appliances
    - Nance appliances
Habit appliances
Mouth guards and night guards
Minor tooth movement appliances

Before treatment, Dr. Lal welcomes parents and children in for an orthodontic consultation to go over all treatment options.  Dr. Lal commonly sees patients with crooked teeth or lack of appropriate spacing. While parents are worried their children’s teeth are not coming in or falling out at the right times, we determine whether braces are necessary in the future and recommend treatments to reduce time spent in braces later in life.

When treatment from another specialist is needed, Dr. Lal provides in-house orthodontics by welcoming other dental professionals into his practice.

Our Care Philosophy: Early Diagnosis and Treatment


Dr. Lal’s goal is to intercept the need for extensive braces orthodontic services by preventing future malocclusion with early detection and treatment. Parents consider Dr. Lal’s pediatric dental practice as the first stop on their path to orthodontic care. Dr. Lal’s skill allows him to predict needs and spot minor problems at the outset, so early treatment can be applied. With our help, children benefit from limited treatment into the future and prevention of damaging habits that affect teeth alignment, including prolonged thumb sucking, bottle use, and pacifier use.

Does Your Child Need Braces? Ask our Pediatric Dentist


For more information on treatment to correct bite alignment, end bad dental habits, and create the right foundation for a healthy smile, contact Dr. Lal. We welcome parents for early orthodontic consultations on the Upper West Side.