While straight teeth are aesthetically pleasing, there are more than just cosmetic reasons to wear Braces. At Stoneridge Dental, we want to inform you of all the reasons we suggest keeping your teeth straight!
Airway
One of the primary reasons for straightening teeth is to allow room for your tongue to sit against your palate and out of your airway. Crooked and crowded teeth indicate insufficient arch length caused by mouth breathing. Mouth breathing can start as early as birth with a tongue tie or enlarged tonsils. The growth of the upper jaw is guided, but the tongue posturing in the upper palate and the lower jaw follow the upper jaw’s growth. As an adult, the crowded teeth and narrow jaws can lead to disturbed sleep, difficulty breathing, snoring, obstructive sleep apnea, grinding, gastroesophageal reflux, and other problems. Correcting your crowded teeth and narrow jaws can improve health and quality of life.
Function
When your teeth are crooked, and jaws are narrow, the muscles that move your jaw in speaking and eating must work harder to overcome the interferences. This can lead to muscle strain and problems with the jaw joint that can worsen over time. Just like with your airway, these skeletal changes are best avoided by addressing issues as a child. However, with new surgical techniques, we can correct skeletal growth issues in adults that were not treatable in the past.
Structure
Teeth function against each other and are designed to come together naturally. When you have uneven forces or off-axis forces, the teeth will wear faster and unevenly. Even in normal function, teeth are at greater risk of breaking and chipping. Dental restorations such as crowns, fillings, bridges, and implants are also at greater risk of damage and are difficult to do when teeth are not straight.
Biology
When teeth are not straight, they gather more plaque and do not self-clean from eating and the motion of the tongue. Additionally, it is difficult to floss and brush crooked teeth. Patients are at greater risk for dental decay and periodontal disease. When there is decay more tooth structure has to be damaged to access and repair decayed teeth.
Aesthetics
While the main reason for many people to seek braces and straight teeth, I almost consider this a side effect. One of the reasons we see a straight teeth and wide arches as beautiful is that they indicate a healthy individual who can breath through their nose and tongue posture properly.
At Stoneridge Dental, Dr. Saydyk and his team focus on helping patients with complex dental issues such as worn and crooked teeth. We not only address aesthetics but also improve your whole body health.
