What Causes Crooked Teeth?

Misaligned teeth are a common yet reversible dental condition. Orthodontics in Marco Island can correct the teeth’s alignment using traditional metal braces or clear aligners. However, you might be wondering why you have crooked teeth in the first place.

Possible Causes of Crooked Teeth

Below are four of the possible reasons why you have teeth that grew out of place:

Thumb Sucking and Pacifiers

Thumbsucking is a habit babies indulge in to comfort themselves when stressed. However, it can adversely affect the growth and alignment of teeth. The pressure involved when sucking the thumbs can alter the shape of the jaw and push teeth out of their proper places resulting in bite issues. Aside from malocclusion, the habit could also lead to speech abnormalities like a lisp.

Early Loss of Primary Teeth

You lose your primary teeth at some point in your childhood. This is to make way for the permanent teeth to erupt. However, if you lose a tooth too early, the other baby teeth could crowd the vacancy. When a permanent tooth starts growing, it finds little to no space available and could erupt out of alignment.

Trauma

Teeth can become misaligned when the head is affected by blunt trauma. Both children and adults can injure themselves through contact sports. Vehicular accidents, slips and falls, and other mishaps could subject the face to blunt trauma and cause crooked teeth. Sometimes, the victim may also suffer teeth loosening or total loss.

Tongue Thrusting

Tongue thrusting is when you press your tongue against your teeth while swallowing. The proper muscle movement would be to push it against the mouth’s roof instead. Like thumb-sucking, tongue thrusting can exert continuous pressure against the upper or lower front teeth. Over time, it will gradually push the teeth out of alignment into an overbite.

Seek the Help of Orthodontics in Marco Island  

It is never too late to correct your malocclusion with an orthodontist’s help. Contact us now to book an appointment.