Crooked Teeth – Misaligned Teeth
San Antonio Dental Office
Crooked Teeth cause problems
Did you know that straighter teeth are healthier teeth? Obviously many patients want to straighten crooked teeth in order to get a prettier smile. However, most don’t realize that straightening crooked teeth also make your mouth and teeth healthier. A gap between teeth packs food and plaque and puts you at risk of a gum and bone infection. Overlapping teeth are nearly impossible to clean properly. When you have crooked or misaligned teeth, they contribute to health problems like gum disease, broken teeth, headaches and premature aging.
Straightening crooked teeth Video
Crooked Teeth: The Long Term Health Risks
Crooked Teeth Risks: Not Just Cosmetics
Most adults think of crooked teeth as a cosmetic problem. Therefore, they avoid straightening their teeth because it feels like an unnecessary splurge. However, crooked teeth are a risk factor to both your dental health and your overall health in the long run. Keep reading to discover the 4 major risks of crooked teeth.
Risk #1 for Misaligned Teeth: When Dirty Gets Deadly
Did your grandma ever tell you that cleanliness was close to Godliness? Well, when it comes to teeth, cleaner teeth won’t get you into heaven, but they may keep you out of the grave. Crooked teeth cause problems because they are so difficult to clean properly. Ironically, both overlapping teeth and gapping teeth both trap food and bacteria. Trapped food causes cavities and dangerous gum infections. The fact that crooked teeth never get completely clean increases infections and inflammation in the body.
Inflammation: From Your Teeth to Your Body
Why does inflammation matter? Inflammation matters because it damages tissue and increases complications with diabetes, heart disease and many other serious health conditions.
Ok. that makes sense. But surely that’s only true with big inflammation. The mouth is so little. Can mouth inflammation really cause bad problems in the whole body? Yes.
Consider the following example of how the mouth affects the whole body: when our diabetic patients with gum disease get their teeth and gums cleaned up, they see HUGE benefits. They often get a drastic reduction in their A1C level and a dramatic improvement in blood sugar stability. We’ve even had patients who got to decrease or drop a diabetes med after controlling their gum disease.
When you straighten crooked, gapping or overlapping teeth, you make them easier to clean. Clean teeth decrease the inflammation in your mouth. Straighter teeth = Healthier you.
Still Not Convinced That Inflammation Matters?
Inflammation causes thousands of complications and deaths every year. For example, the number one cause of death in COVID patients was rampant inflammation. As demonstrated in our gum disease example above, your teeth play a key role in how much inflammation you have in your body. Less inflammation means better health.
Do Straighter Make You Healthier? Watch and find out!
Risk #2: Malocclusion
It doesn’t matter if you have crooked teeth, gaps or overlapping teeth. When the teeth aren’t in the right place, they can’t work together like they should. When the upper and lower teeth don’t come together properly, that is called malocclusion or a bad bite. Ideally, the points of teeth in one jaw should engage with the grooves of the opposite teeth. In malocclusion, teeth don’t all come together evenly and some teeth take all the hits. The malocclusion of crooked and misaligned teeth leads to bigger problems.
Risk #3: Broken Teeth
Teeth are designed to work together as a group. They are supposed to share the load of chewing and supporting the face. As shown above, crooked teeth cause malocclusion, which means that some teeth work much harder than others. When a tooth gets repeatedly overused and stressed, it will crack and eventually break. Frequently, this becomes cracked tooth syndrome. Read more about cracked tooth syndrome here.
Risk #4: Headaches & Jaw Joint Problems
When the teeth don’t spread force evenly, the muscles that move the jaws are activated unevenly as well. Over time, this pulls on the jaw joint and forehead. The extra muscle stress can reach levels that dislocate the jaw disk and cause horrific headaches. The teeth, face muscles and jaw joint form a delicate system that works all day long as we talk, eat and express ourselves. If the teeth aren’t in the right place, it can throw the whole system out of balance.
Crooked teeth, Overbites and Underbites
Crooked teeth not only impact gum health and esthetics, they also can be the cause of an underbite or an overbite. Furthermore, when the jaw isn’t where it should be, the teeth definitely don’t come together properly. When the jaw isn’t in the correct place, the teeth can’t work together to provide the face with appropriate support or shape. In overbite, this leads to premature wrinkling and a squished face. In underbite, it also changes face shape and often gets people inappropriately accused of aggression or anger.
Notice how crooked teeth cause teeth chipping!
Are your teeth crooked or crowded?
Maybe you have the opposite problem and it’s the gaps between your teeth that you don’t like? Do you have an overbite or an underbite?
Schedule Your Consultation
Whether you have teeth or not, you deserve a smile you can be proud of!
A beautiful smile changes how you look. It also changes how you live. Imagine laughing and eating freely with friends again! If you want to smile with confidence, we can help. Take the first step today. Schedule your consultation!
