How to fix crooked teeth: useful tips

A beautiful and snow-white smile has always been a sign of good health and high social status of the owner. But not everyone awarded nature with even teeth. For one reason or another, the teeth may bend, this brings not only aesthetic discomfort, but also very real health complications. In this article you will learn about the causes of tooth curvature, get acquainted with the main ways to align them, and also read what crooked teeth can lead to.

Why teeth grow crooked

Here are some factors that can affect the beauty of the dentition.

1. The most common cause of tooth curvature is a hereditary factor. If the parents’ teeth are naturally crooked, this means that the child is unlikely to be able to boast of an even dentition. Genes are important, but not a determining factor. You just need to keep in mind that in such a situation, teeth should be monitored more carefully.
2. Improper nutrition, or rather, a lack of calcium in the body, can lead to weak and loose teeth, which can grow crooked due to the long process of eruption. In the diet of the child should be a large number of dairy products.
3. Prolonged and frequent use of the nipples is another reason for the curvature. When the jaw is always in the same (deformed) position, the teeth begin to grow incorrectly. Children's teeth are very sensitive to external obstacles and quickly change their direction of growth. Children who suck a nipple for a long time and cannot give up this habit after two years are more likely to suffer from crooked teeth and malocclusion.
4. Various problems with nasal breathing can also lead to curvature of the teeth. If the child has enlarged adenoids, this means that the baby breathes through his mouth all the time. In this situation, the lower jaw is not located correctly, the tongue is omitted. If this condition lasts a long time, the upper jaw gradually acquires a triangular shape.
5. Teeth may be crooked due to underdevelopment of the jaw muscles. This is due to an improper diet. A child from two years old needs solid food - raw vegetables and fruits help the baby train his jaw. When he bites and chews an apple, a large group of jaw muscles works. But if you give the baby only a peeled apple with exclusively small pieces - this can lead to weakening of the jaw muscles and, as a result, to the curvature of the teeth.
6. Bruxism (gnashing of teeth) is also a common cause of tooth curvature and damage to tooth enamel. With this diagnosis, treatment should be sought not only by the dentist, but also by a neurologist.
7. Some physiological features can also cause tooth bending. This includes the large size of the tongue and a too short bridle.
8. Caries, oddly enough, can also cause curvature to develop. If the baby’s milk tooth collapses prematurely, it falls out, and the molar is not yet ready to replace it. In this situation, the dentition shifts and the teeth grow crooked.
9. Some bone diseases can affect the beauty of your teeth. As a rule, with rickets, the teeth grow in a mixed row.

The rudiments of milk teeth appear in the child when he is still in the womb. Therefore, the lifestyle of a pregnant woman also affects the health of the child’s teeth. If a woman drinks alcohol, smokes, inhales poisonous chemical compounds and uses potent medicines, this leads to the fact that the baby’s teeth grow crooked and loose, they are prone to caries.

Professional correction of crooked teeth

Whatever the cause of the crooked teeth, they need to be fixed.Fortunately, modern orthodontics allows us to do this quickly, safely and painlessly. It is best to correct the teeth of a child 10-12 years old. Previously, it is pointless to do this, since the dentition has not yet formed and milk teeth have not completely been replaced by permanent ones. Later, it is also not recommended - the younger the body, the more prone it is to various kinds of changes. Correcting crooked teeth in a teenager is much easier and faster than in an adult. We will tell you about the most popular professional methods of teeth alignment.

Eliners
This is a special silicone or plastic form, like a case for the upper or lower row of teeth. It is made individually for each person. Such a transparent form clearly fixes the teeth in a certain position. It has long been known that teeth at any age have mobility. If you act on the tooth with a small force, but for a very long time, it moves. When a person seeks help, his dentition is carefully examined and several eliners are made for the gradual correction of the dentition. That is, you put on the first eliner and wear it until the teeth are slightly aligned, and pressure is not enough for further correction. Then the liner changes to the second, which fixes the teeth in an even more correct position. With sufficiently strong curvatures, the number of eliners can reach up to 15 pieces. You must clearly understand that each of them needs to be worn sequentially.

The popularity of this method of correcting curvature lies in the fact that the aligners are practically invisible, they do not cause aesthetic discomfort, like braces. They are easy to remove and clean. This device is used not only to straighten crooked teeth, but also to narrow the interdental spaces, straighten a twisted tooth, and also to fix the result obtained when wearing braces. Eliners should be worn almost all the time, even at night. Together, wearing an eliner should not be less than 22 hours a day. Eliners need to be removed before eating, and then put back on cleaned teeth.

Trainers (mouth guards)
They are a universal design, similar to a boxing mouth guard, which protects the jaw from impact. Trainers are used for slight distortion. They can be universal and are usually not manufactured individually. Simply buy a new trainer and go to the dentist so that he “fits” the design to the size of your jaw. There are sets of trainers that gradually restore the dentition. For example, the blue trainer is designed to start treatment - its fixation is quite free, it only makes a slight correction of the most deviated from the correct tooth growth. When the trainer no longer brings discomfort, it should be replaced by a harder one (red), etc.

Since the trainer is used to correct minor distortions, you need to wear it only at night and a few more hours in the afternoon.

Braces
This is the most popular and affordable tool for aligning teeth. Thin plates with movable ligatures are attached to the teeth. They are interconnected by metal arcs, the length of which can be adjusted. As the teeth align, you need to visit the dentist so that he “twists” the braces in the right direction on time. Thus, with each visit, the braces will become more rigid and even, like teeth.

There are special braces that are installed on the inside of the tooth. This is done to eliminate the aesthetic factor - so that the design is invisible. Braces are very popular all over the world due to the relatively inexpensive cost of the procedure and design. We can say that this is one of the most affordable ways to align crooked teeth.

Orthodontic Plates
From the outside, the plate looks like a piece of wire, curved in the form of an arch.Most of the structure is fixed on the sky. It is recommended to wear plates for teenagers, it will not help adults. The orthodontic plate helps to normalize the bite, as well as gently expands the narrow part of the upper jaw, so crowded teeth line up in an even row. The disadvantage of the plate is that it does not solve serious problems and does not correct strong curvature.

Veneers
We can say that veneers are prostheses that are attached to the outside of the tooth and create its “facade”. Wearing veneers is a troublesome, lifelong and expensive affair. Among the advantages of this technology, it can be noted that the plates completely cover their own tooth - a curve or with cracks. Externally, veneers look very well-groomed and beautiful - the teeth, as a rule, also differ in enviable whiteness. Among the design flaws, the doctor erases and grinds his own tooth before installing the veneer, removing its natural protective layer. Therefore, veneers should be worn constantly; there is no return trip after their installation.

These are the main ways of professional teeth alignment, although there is one more - absolutely not expensive. As you understand, the principle of all designs is that long-term exposure leads to the movement of the tooth in the right direction. This can be achieved by doing a massage for the teeth. Sounds funny, doesn't it? However, this does work. If you rub your teeth at least an hour a day and lightly press them in the direction where you want to “move” them, they will really begin to move. Especially if it is a child or teenager. Do massage movements while watching TV - combine business with pleasure.

Crooked teeth are a serious aesthetic flaw. Because of this, adolescents begin to develop complexes, they begin to be shy of their smile. But besides the appearance, the health of a child with crooked teeth suffers. Often a malocclusion leads to insufficient chewing of food, which is fraught with various gastroenterological diseases. In addition, crooked teeth are a large number of inaccessible places in which bacteria, plaque, food debris accumulate. Crooked teeth complicate the cleaning process. Another unpleasant consequence is the erasure of the teeth. If the bite is incorrect and the teeth are crooked, this leads to premature erasure of tooth enamel, and sometimes deformation of the maxillofacial system. Therefore, often the alignment of teeth is considered not cosmetic, but a vital procedure.

Of course, crooked teeth in a child need to be corrected, while this is done easily and without problems. Whether to straighten teeth in adulthood is a personal matter for every person. In Japan, a fashionable trend is gaining popularity - crooked teeth. Crooked teeth are believed to be a sign of youth. Some even specifically go to the dentist to get the treasured curvature and protruding fangs. So maybe you should not align your teeth, but you should look at them from the other side?

Video: how to align crooked teeth