The rules, again, are starting to change a little bit because of the significance of obstructive sleep apnea. We have to try and get better outcomes. So it’s difficult to get a teenager to be on CPAP at 14, 15, yet we don’t want to put an appliance in their mouth, which in a way is an orthodontic appliance. So we don’t want to create any growth patterns that are inappropriate or can’t be reversed or anything like that.
So our general rule of thumb is we don’t want to put it in anyone under 18 years of age. But the last 17 year old I treated was six foot four, weighed 110 kilos and had about 10 per cent body fat. So I think he was pretty mature for a 17 year old. So you’ve got to customize it to who you’re looking at and you can’t be too generic about your decisions. Again, it comes back to you training your qualifications and your experience in the area because it’s not as simple A plus B equals C process.
