Crooked Teeth: Causes, Concerns, and How to Fix Them

The Causes

YGenetics

Genes are one of the most important things that affect how your mouth and teeth grow. If your parents have crooked or misaligned teeth, it's possible that you will too. 

We don't have a lot of power over this problem. You can also get an overbite or underbite from your parents, but don't worry, these problems can be fixed!

Bad Habits

We learn good and bad habits from the time we are born. Even though these habits might not seem dangerous, they can really hurt our teeth in the long run.

If we can, we should try to break habits for ourselves and others such as:

• 
  Tongue Thrusting
• Mouth Breathing
• Using a Pacifier
• Thumb Sucking 
• Reverse Swallowing

These habits are called "myofunctional," which means they change the way the muscles in the mouth or face work. 

If you can fix these bad habits or keep your kids from doing them, they are more likely to have straighter teeth and a jaw that is in the right place.

Injury

Keeping your face from harm can often prevent your teeth from being crooked. 

If your jaw or teeth are knocked out or moved out of place, your other teeth may grow crooked or move around to make room. 

The worst cases of crooked teeth and jaws are often caused by accidents that occur to the face.

Poor Hygiene & Nutrition

If you don't brush and floss your teeth like you should, you could get cavities and gum disease, which can lead to making your teeth appear crooked. 

The way you eat every day is also a big part of how healthy your mouth is. Eating sweets and drinking soda can cause cavities and hurt the development of teeth, speeding up the process of potentially resulting in crooked teeth.

The Concerns

Cleaning

Having crooked teeth makes it harder than it needs to be to take care of your teeth. Even if you brush and floss for a long time, you might not be able to get into all the cracks and hard-to-reach places in your mouth. 

Then if you can't clean your teeth well, you could get even more cavities, gum disease, and periodontitis, which is an inflammation of the tissue around the teeth that can cause the gums to shrink and the teeth to come loose!

Wear on Teeth

When teeth aren't straight, they can rub against each other and wear down the enamel, which is what protects our teeth. 

Wear can also make your jaw and gums hurt. With long-term wear, you may have frequent headaches and teeth that are cracked.

Self Esteem

Having low self-esteem and less confidence can often come from not having the best smile. This can have long-term effects such as how happy you are with your everyday life. 

Fixing this problem can help you feel less stressed and think more positively.

Health in General

Our oral health has a big effect on how healthy we are as a whole. 

If you don't take care of your mouth properly, you may be more likely to have serious health problems like heart attacks, strokes, or poorly managed diabetes.

Straightening Your Teeth

Should you get your teeth fixed? This is a personal choice, but there are plenty of beneficial health effects to having straight teeth. 

Here are a few ways to fix your crooked teeth if you decide to do something about them.

Traditional braces, clear or hidden braces, or tiny braces:

Brackets for traditional braces are made of stainless steel, and are often required for severe cases.

Some people can put braces on the inside of their teeth so that they are "invisible" or hidden, but in this case, it may be more convenient to get alternative aligners.

Mini braces are also used and are 30% smaller than regular braces. They are made of stainless steel brackets that are attached to your teeth with metal arch wires.

Invisalign Aligners:

Invisalign® is a great alternative to metal braces because it uses clear aligners instead of metal brackets.

You can get the look you want without braces if you wear the provided clear tray aligners. Most of the time, people don’t even know someone is getting their teeth straightened when wearing Invisalign.

As an added bonus, Lakes Family Dental provides expert dentists ready to assist in giving you a perfect smile in as little as 6 months with Invisalign® treatments.

Plus, you can take advantage of a complimentary Invisalign Consultation, free of charge, and determine which treatment works best for you!

Final Takeaway

We can't change our genes, but we can teach our kids to do things better, and prevent ourselves from further harming our teeth. 

Stop the bad habits to avoid crooked teeth and a jaw that doesn't fit right. 

When it comes to crooked teeth, there are many things to worry about. If your teeth aren't in the right place, you might not be able to clean them well, your teeth might wear down, and your self-esteem might go down. 

If you want to improve your overall health and avoid serious health problems now and in the future, it's important to deal with these kinds of things.

There's no right way to straighten teeth since each person is different, so a treatment plan can be made that works best for each individual. 

By making an appointment at The Lakes Family Dental, we can answer any other questions you may have and get you started on the best way to straighten your teeth, providing six month smiles or traditional braces for more severe cases.



At The Lakes Family Dental, we want you to be proud to show off your smile. With the help of our skilled team of dental experts, we'll be able to figure out the best way to fix your crooked teeth and assist you every step of the way to make sure the end result is perfect for you.

Call our offices today to get started: 956-247-4263

Call us at 956-247-4263 or Click today to set up an appointment or take advantage of a Free Invisalign Consultation session with the staff at Lakes Family Dental to finally treat your Underbite!