Many children and adults suffer from crooked or misaligned teeth. If they’re lucky the degree of the misalignment may be small, and it may not be very noticeable. However there are lots of cases where that isn’t true, and the crooked teeth may even cause other health issues.
Causes of Crooked Teeth
In general, crooked teeth can be classified as either tooth that came in crooked, or that gradually became crooked. Some of the more common causes of crooked teeth include:
- Repetitive oral habits
Certain repetitive oral habits can affect the muscles, and function of the mouth – and cause teeth to become crooked. The more common habits that you should try to avoid are pacifier use, thumb sucking, mouth breathing, and tongue thrusting.
- Misaligned jaw
If you have a misaligned jaw such as an overbite or underbite, it can result in malocclusion. Essentially teeth will be ‘pushed’ out of place, making them crooked.
- Genetic factors
Children with parents that have crooked or misaligned teeth are more likely to end up with misaligned teeth themselves. Aside from the risk of inheriting crooked teeth, children may also inherit issues with jaw alignments such as an overbite or underbite.
- Poor dental health
Dental issues such as cavities and gum disease can both affect the alignment of teeth. If your dental health is poor and you don’t go to a dentist regularly for a checkup, the risk of it affecting your teeth alignment is higher.
- Injuries and trauma
As you can imagine, any injuries or facial trauma could result in crooked teeth. A forceful hit to the mouth or face will be able to quite literally knock teeth out of place – and may cause other damage as well.
- Nutrition
In order to develop properly, your teeth, jaw, and facial muscles all require good nutrition. If a child does is not able to get sufficient nutrition, it is more likely that their teeth will end up crooked.
Make no mistake there are other causes of crooked teeth as well, but the ones listed above are the more common culprits. Based on them you may even be able to pinpoint the reason why your teeth are crooked.
What Can Be Done About Crooked Teeth
If your teeth are just slightly misaligned or a little bit out of place, you may not feel the need to do anything about them. However, in more severe cases they can affect your self-confidence, quality of life, and cause other health issues too.
The good news is that crooked teeth can be straightened. Overall that is done in two different ways:
- Braces
While there are several different types of braces available nowadays, they function in a similar way. The braces will slowly help to adjust the alignment of your teeth.
The time and cost that it takes to fix crooked teeth using braces can vary quite a bit. Additionally, some braces are very noticeable, while others such as Invisalign Buckingham are completely invisible.
- Teeth straightening surgery
A less popular option to straighten teeth is to have surgery done. By repositioning the gums and bones in the jaw, the position and alignment of teeth can be fixed.
The cost of teeth straightening surgery can be quite high. On top of that in many cases, it is just part of the treatment, and your dentist may recommend that you wear braces afterward.
All said and done it should be clear that there are definitely ways to tackle crooked teeth – but each case is different. That is why the first thing you need to do is visit your dentist and have them take a look then recommend the best course of action.
Keep in mind that if your teeth are very crooked, it is better to have them adjusted sooner rather than later so that they don’t end up affecting you in the long term.
A professional writer with over a decade of incessant writing skills. Her topics of interest and expertise range from health, nutrition and psychology.