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What Causes Crooked Teeth and How To Straighten Them

  • Last Updated: July 6, 2023

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Bonus Material: Get Your Perfect Smile: A Complete Guide for NHS & Private Orthodontic Patients

A whopping 39% of adults in the UK do not visit the dentist regularly!

Having a beautiful smile is something that everyone dreams about.

If you want the best smile possible, you must make sure that you take your dental health as seriously as possible. One of the things that people often go to the dentist to correct is crooked teeth.

Having crooked teeth can make you feel self-conscious about your smile. In this crooked teeth guide, you will learn what causes crooked teeth and how to straighten them.

What Causes Crooked Teeth?

There are several different reasons why your teeth can become crooked. Each of these reasons is often multifactorial.

Small Jaw, Larger Teeth & Also Too Many Teeth

A small jaw is often one of the primary reasons your teeth may become crooked. If your teeth have less space to grow, they will bend to accommodate your jaw.

Genes

Your genes play an important part in whether or not your teeth are crooked. Your jaw size and even your jaw shape are all largely determined by your genetics.

The shape of your jaw can cause crowding of teeth. Overbites and underbites can be determined by genetics. All of these can contribute to your having crooked teeth.

Baby Teeth

Another thing that can impact whether you get crooked teeth or not is how early you lose your baby teeth.

If you lost your baby teeth too early, it might have allowed your other teeth to shift into the area where the tooth was lost. That could crowd the jaw and cause your permanent teeth to become crooked because they do not have enough space and room to grow.

Sucking Your Thumb or Fingers

Sucking your thumb or fingers can influence whether or not you have crooked teeth. If you suck your thumb as a child, it can cause your front teeth to grow outward and cause crossbites.

Crooked teeth crowding

How Can Crooked Teeth Be Fixed?

The good news is that when you have crooked teeth, your orthodontist can use a crooked teeth remedy to help fix the problem.

These procedures are often very effective, but many will only require your patience as they can take some time to work. However, in the end, the results will be good and improve your confidence and self-esteem.

Use Retainers

Retainers are used to maintain the alignment of your teeth once you have taken off your braces.

Get Braces

You are probably already aware of how effective braces can be in straightening crooked teeth.

While there are many methods out there for strengthening teeth, this method is tried and true, and it is very effective.

However, having traditional braces can make it difficult to practice good oral hygiene. It can also make it difficult for you to eat certain foods.

It would help if you also got traditional braces adjusted at the orthodontist every six weeks. This is why other methods of straightening teeth have been gaining popularity.

Wear Clear Aligners

One method of straightening teeth that have caught on fast is wearing clear aligners. Clear aligners are very discreet and can be worn at intervals. If you get custom-made plastic aligners, you will be able to get several months of them to change them whenever you want.

Your aligners will only be worn for about 1 to 2 weeks, depending on what your orthodontist recommends for aligning your teeth.

You can even buy clear aligners yourself from various manufacturers. However, this is not recommended as you will generally see better results if you have professional planning and supervising it for you.

Widening of the Upper Jaw

There are times when children’s mouths are too small for the permanent teeth growing there.

When this happens, the dentist will insert what is known as a palatal expander. This expander will widen the arch in the upper teeth. The expander is usually fastened to your child’s upper molars using dental cement.

As your child visits the orthodontist, they will start placing gradual pressure on the upper jaws on both sides. This will help to cause bone growth between the jaws.

When your child’s mouth widens, this will help to accommodate the proper growth of their permanent teeth.

Invisalign

Take Care of Your Smile

Once you find out what causes crooked teeth, you can begin to look into a solution that will realign them. Several methods can be used to realign teeth.

That is why there’s no need to live with a smile that is less than perfect.

Your orthodontist will be able to help you. If you would like help with realigning crooked teeth, please do not hesitate to contact us.

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Picture of Dr Andrew McGregor

Dr Andrew McGregor

Andrew completed his three years of orthodontic specialist training in 2010 gaining his Masters degree and Membership in Orthodontics and has worked at Park Orthodontics since then. As an orthodontic specialist he has treated thousands of patients ranging from simple bite correction in children to complex smile and bite makeovers in adults. Andrew is a member of the British Orthodontic Society, Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, Scottish Orthodontic Specialists Group and the British Lingual Orthodontic Society.

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