Up to 80% Saudi kids 'need dental braces'

The sixth meeting of the Saudi Orthodontic Society, which started on Jan. 31 and ended yesterday (Feb. 1) in Jeddah, revealed that some 70 to 80 percent of Saudi children need dental braces.However, some orthodontists expressed their fears that braces might affect the health of the teeth and even the body.The event welcomed a vast number of doctors and specialists, both from Saudi Arabia and abroad. For students, workshops had been provided at the event.Arab News spoke with Ali Habib, one of the orthodontists present, who said that they had introduced different professors in their meeting to develop the skills of orthodontists in the Kingdom and across the GCC.“We want better results and use of advance equipment; that is why we brought in doctors with up to 50 years of experience in the field who are visiting the Kingdom for the first time to share their experience.”Asked if the trend of putting on braces is more a fashion than a necessity, Habib said: “It is a fashion, because kids tend to encourage each other to wear them, but for the majority of them it is a need.” According to him, 70 to 80 percent of the children in the Kingdom need braces because of genetic reasons and lack of awareness, which results in some children losing their teeth due to decay.The major problem while wearing braces, explained Habib, is cleaning the teeth. “Doctors need to stress on cleanliness and follow up with patients. If the doctor realizes that the teeth are not cleaned well enough, no braces should be put on in the first place. We do not want to solve a problem and create other problems.”Dr. Tareq El-Bialy from the University of Alberta and speaker at the event said that there are two kinds of invisible braces. The first have the same shape as regular braces and have the same problem too — cleaning the teeth. However, he added, there are removable clear braces that can be removed to eat or clean the teeth. The time for the treatment needed to correct teeth places depends on the patients adhering to instructions by keeping the braces for 20 hours and more per day.The best age to have braces, El-Bialy said, is 11 years. He added that in some cases, patients need to wear removable braces at as young as 4 years.Dr. Tedie Houson said that the ordinary braces cost $2,000, while invisible braces would go as high as $4,000. According to her, the newly introduced removable braces have fewer problems. “The patients can see the shape of their mouth through a software and make the changes they want.”Each patient will be given different sizes of the invisible braces and they will be using a different size every two weeks without the need to consult a doctor.Dr. Fahad Al-Sulaimani, a faculty member at King Abdulaziz University, said the workshops offered to students would help them in their future work. According to him, the main problem patients face is that they spend little time on cleaning their teeth. “Braces need to be cleaned after each meal and before sleeping. If this is not done, the result is decay, infections and a bad smell of the mouth.”Asked if braces have a relation to any health issues, he said that studies revealed that braces had an indirect relation to heart problems and diabetes.Speaking about the prices of braces, which vary from one clinic to another, Al-Sulaimani said that they range from SR5,000 to SR20,000. According to him, this depends on the doctors’ experience and the materials used. Dr. Habib said that the Saudi Orthodontic Society would soon have a list of authorized orthodontics under the title “Find Your Doctors” on their website, so people would be able to find all specialized doctors and consult them.