Crooked teeth can prevent patients from sharing their beautiful smiles. Children and adult patients can benefit from straightening their crooked teeth. No patient is “too old” to realign their teeth. Dr. Stevens offers discreet treatment options for achieving a straight, confident smile.
Crooked teeth are more than just a common cosmetic concern. Crooked teeth may also impact the functional aspect of your bite. Treating crooked teeth can help realign the bite alignment of your jaw for a more comfortable and functional bite.
Crooked Teeth Impact Oral Health
When you have crooked teeth, you probably want to get them fixed because you don’t like how they look. They’re often jumbled and make you want to hide your smile when you should be showing them off. But crooked teeth also come with many oral health problems, too.
Straight, even teeth have a certain amount of space between them, and they’re easy to clean. Crooked teeth come together at odd angles and overlap each other, causing gaps and tight spaces. Your toothbrush and dental floss may not be able to get into all of these areas. Even our specialized dental tools may not be able to clean these areas properly. Even if you’re doing everything right with oral care, plaque and tartar build up in these areas, making you more likely to develop tooth decay or gum disease.
Crooked teeth cause you to have an uneven bite. When you bite down, your teeth come together and create pressure. With straight teeth, the pressure of the bite is evenly distributed throughout the teeth. When your teeth are crooked, some teeth take on more pressure than others. Those teeth are going to wear down faster than their counterparts. They’re also more likely to break or crack because of that extra pressure.
Uneven bites are one of the main causes of TMJ disorders. Your jaw joint doesn’t track smoothly because the bite is uneven. It breaks down the jaw joint and causes the muscles that assist in its movement to become strained. The more you let it go, the more severe the condition becomes. You’ll likely experience pain and tension throughout your face, neck, and head. Your jaw starts to pop and click every time you move it. It can start to lose function, too, possibly getting stuck in certain positions. You may experience difficulty opening or closing your mouth.
Treating Crooked Teeth Greenwood, IN
Dr. Stevens is a Greenwood, IN Invisalign provider with advanced training in using clear aligners to correct tooth misalignment. Invisalign is ideal for addressing mild to moderate orthodontic concerns in teens and adults.
You wear discreet, comfortable custom-fabricated aligners in progression to gradually shift teeth back into proper alignment. This occurs without the stigma of bulky, unsightly metal braces. Invisalign gently and gradually straightens teeth that are crooked or misaligned, correcting problems such as crossbite, overbite, and underbite.
How Does Invisalign Work?
Available for teens and adults, Invisalign uses a series of clear retainers custom-made by Dr. Stevens from molds of your teeth and designed to move teeth into the desired position over a year. The aligners are custom-designed using special CAD/CAM software that enables Dr. Stevens to plan your treatment and create predictable results.
Patients can enjoy several key benefits:
- removable retainers allow easy brushing and flossing
- smooth, plastic material is comfortable and does not irritate soft tissues
- they are invisible, and no one has to know you are wearing braces
Crooked teeth can go beyond being a cosmetic concern- they can impact oral health. It is often difficult to effectively clean between teeth that are misaligned, increasing the chances of decay and tooth cavities or gum disease.
They may also affect a patient’s bite, leading to temporomandibular joint issues, or TMJ, as pressure is applied in the wrong places to accommodate an imbalanced bite.
Crooked Teeth FAQs
How do you treat complex orthodontic concerns?
For those with more complex orthodontic concerns that affect the structure of their jaw or bite, Dr. Stevens may refer you to a local orthodontist for more advanced treatment.
What is the fastest way to fix crooked teeth?
Dental bonding or dental veneers will instantly straighten teeth. The dentist applies tooth bonding in one visit, leaving you with a perfectly straight smile. Teeth veneers will require several visits. However, you only have to wait a few weeks from your initial appointment to the appointment where we place them on the teeth. Invisalign is also a great solution for mild to moderately crooked teeth. On the other hand, this treatment will take several months to complete but is still typically faster than braces.
Can crooked teeth fix themself?
Self-alignment only occurs when a child loses a tooth, and the adult tooth that comes in will push the other teeth into the correct position. There are really no other circumstances where crooked teeth straighten out on their own. If you have crooked teeth and dislike the appearance of your smile or if they are causing oral health issues, the only solution is dental treatment.
I had orthodontic treatment in the past. Why are my teeth crooked now?
Unfortunately, most patients’ teeth will not simply remain straight after orthodontic treatment. Once you have undergone treatment, you must follow directions and wear a dental aligner to maintain the results. Failure to do this is the number reason for orthodontic relapse. Fortunately, Invisalign is a great solution for this. It straightens your teeth fairly quickly, and the dentist fits you with an aligner to help maintain your straight teeth.
Schedule a Crooked Teeth Consultation Today
If you have teeth that are crooked or have concerns about your bite, schedule a consultation with Dr. Stevens. He will perform a thorough exam and discuss the best options for restoring and maintaining your dental health.