Everyone’s dream is to have well-functioning and perfect teeth. Of course not having a perfect row of teeth will not necessarily cause any problems later on in the patient’s life. It might be not worth visiting a dentist solely for this reason. There are many causes that lead to irregular or crowded teeth.
This article will answer the following questions about crooked teeth:
- What are the causes of crooked teeth?
- What consequences might derive from crooked teeth?
- Different types of crooked teeth
- How can we correct crooked teeth?
- How can porcelain veneers and crowns help in such cases?
What are the causes of crooked teeth?
There are many causes that lead to irregular or crowded teeth.Let’s see the most important ones.
Narrow jaw
The main cause is often the inappropriate size of the jaw. Narrow jaws do not provide enough space for all the teeth to align.
Different size of jaws
The mismatch in the sizes of upper and lower jaws might also lead to an overbite, it can alter one’s looks and affect the position of the teeth.
Tooth loss
In addition, missing teeth or the loss of teeth can lead to crooked teeth because the adjacent teeth tip over and take up the empty space. This irregularity does not only affect the teeth in the gappy jaw, but also those on the opposite side. Hereditary factors also play a role in the development of the final alignment of teeth.
Inherited conditions
Parents often make numerous mistakes that affect the regularity or irregularity of the child’s teeth. Of course these mistakes may have their consequences in the child’s teenage and adult years.
It is a mistake to encourage the use of pacifiers and thumb sucking. Both cause dental protrusion. It may only affect primary teeth, but it also has an effect on the permanent teeth hiding in the upper and lower jaw waiting to erupt.
It is also important how we lay the child down in bed as it affects the development of the upper and lower jaw bones – which are the cradle of teeth. Never put a pillow under the baby’s head, even toddlers should only use a flat pillow at most.
What consequences might derive from crooked teeth?
Healthy teeth have a major role in eating, since badly chewed food can lead to digestive and later to metabolic disorders. We must preserve our teeth not only in their intact condition, but we also have to pay attention to their position.
In fact the position of our teeth influences chewing, their load distribution, the inevitable plaque formation and in the long run tooth decay. A regular set of teeth is very important also for speaking. Crooked teeth can cause sigmatism, lisping or rhotacism.
These speech defects can cause psychological traumas that are difficult to treat later on. If the patient does not seeks solution for such problems in time, they may have serious problems in communicating on the long run. It is not hard to imagine how it affects the whole life of a person.
Different types of crooked teeth
The consequences of crooked teeth also depend on the type of irregularity of the set in question.
The types of crooked teeth are the followings:
Badly positioned teeth can cause a number of problems on the long run. In the case of too closely positioned teeth, acid producing bacteria may easily hide in hard-to-reach gaps. This causes tooth decay.
Uneven surfaces, however, can result in deep bite from which numerous complications could derive, for instance, articular pain.
If there is not enough space for all the teeth in the jaw, then the dentist must remove some of the healthy teeth of a patient. This way all the teeth fit properly next to each other in the space provided.
How can we correct crooked teeth?
Everyone associates crooked teeth with orthodontics. It is generally believed that there is no opportunity for orthodontics for adults, it can only be carried out in childhood.
This is not true any more, the range of services has widened in recent decades.
Dental braces
In some cases, also nowadays, dental braces provide the best way to move teeth into their right position. For children, removable dental appliances might be the perfect solution.
These devices’ straightening of teeth is not aesthetically displeasing. Naturally, dental bracing does not necessarily happen during childhood or adolescence. It can also occur during one’s adult life. Today there are methods of practically invisible dental correction for everybody.
Porcelain veneers
The good news is that you can straighten crooked teeth without dental braces. If you want a quick solution and immediate aesthetic results, porcelain veneers can be the solution.
Porcelain layers provide quick improvement, but in some cases, they do not solve the actual issues. Patients who have healthy, living teeth which are too crowded together, should consider more complicated dental bracing methods. Otherwise, their crowded teeth can cause articular symptoms.
Lifestyle, mouth hygiene
Processes stop after leaving bad habits (finger sucking, constant nipple sucking).In all cases, dental hygiene is a fundamental condition of these appliances.
How can porcelain veneers and crowns help in such cases?
With porcelain veneers, the duration of the treatment is short. Also the shape of the tooth only changes negligibly as the procedure only requires minimal grinding of the tooth.
Veneers are also suitable for covering stains on the teeth. Your veneers will last longer if you pay extra attention to dental hygiene.
You must remember that veneers do not cover the back of the teeth, thus they are not protected by the ceramics. If the patient needs a crown, the dentist first must grind down the teeth, then he can place the crown using a specific adhesive.
As our article has revealed orthodontics is available for all generations. Moreover, on-time treatment can save you from plenty of severe problems.
Should you encounter any of the above-mentioned issues, please contact your dentist to find an immediate solution to your problems.