What Causes Teeth to Protrude?
Protruding teeth bother many people, whose smiles are affected by their overbite or the angle of their tooth alignment. In most cases, protruding teeth are relatively easy to treat, though treatment often depends on what has caused the protrusion to develop; certain causes are easier to treat than others. Many cases of protrusion are the result of childhood behavior, like habitual thumb sucking or pacifier use. Some types of protrusion, however, may affect adults or develop throughout a person’s life, due to a variety of different causes.
Teeth can protrude due to tongue thrusting, in which the tongue presses into the front of the mouth. The tongue pushes the teeth into malocclusion, leading to protrusion of the top teeth or an open bite. Protrusion due to tongue thrusting is more common in children, though it can also be found in adults. Tongue thrusting can happen due to stress, ineffective swallowing, chronic swelling in the tonsils or adenoids, and unconsciously, especially while sleeping. Genetics can also lead to protrusion. In some cases, people are simply born with an upper and lower jaw that are uneven or mismatched in size. The malocclusion may not appear in these cases until the adult teeth have fully erupted, and it is usually treated with orthodontics when it appears in childhood or adolescence. When genetically caused protrusion is severe, surgery may be required to correct discrepancies in the size of each jaw.
Protrusion can also be caused by teeth that are missing or extra, or by teeth that are impacted in the jaws. When the teeth are too widely spaced or too crowded, they can easily become improperly aligned. Large spaces between the teeth, which can appear due to missing or impacted teeth, can allow the teeth to shift and protrude, while crowded teeth can shift in position due to lack of space in the mouth. Periodontal disease can also cause the teeth to protrude when the bones of the jaw degrade, which is a common symptom of periodontal disease. As the jaw loses bone mass, the teeth become less stable and may begin to drift, leading to protrusion and other potential problems. While extremely rare, cysts, tumors, and other growths that may occur in the mouth or jaw can cause the teeth to move and for protrusion to develop; clearly, these growths necessitate additional medical treatment.
Orthodontic treatments can effectively return protruding teeth to alignment. These treatments typically include braces and aligners like Invisalign. When periodontal disease is present, it must be treated in order for orthodontic therapies to be effective. Before orthodontic treatment begins, your dentist will assess the health of the mouth and recommend any auxiliary treatments. Because protrusion can occur for so many different reasons, treatment will always be tailored to each patient and the type and duration of treatment will be specific for each case. Most orthodontic treatments take one or two years to complete, though additional medical procedures and treatments will increase the overall time required for treatment to effectively repair protrusion.