What Does Crowding Teeth Mean?
When your teeth are crowding, you’ll want to make sure you figure out what the issue is so it can be addressed, and hopefully reversed. Teeth crowding can lead to more issues in the future that can put the surrounding teeth and your overall oral health at risk.
What is Teeth Crowding?
Teeth crowding is when the teeth of a patient begin congregating and there is less space between teeth then there is supposed to be. Teeth also may be rotating along with moving.
Teeth crowding may be due to a few different issues. These include:
- Improper initial eruption of teeth
- A genetic imbalance between a patient’s tooth and jaw size
- Loss of primary teeth either early or late
- Poor dental health
- Injury
Teeth crowding can lead to a variety of health issues that include:
- Impacting of surrounding teeth
- Tooth decay
- Gum disease
- Lower self-esteem
Whether your teeth crowding is genetic or caused later in life, you’ll want to make sure you take care of it as soon as you can.
How Do I Fix Teeth Crowding?
Repairing crowded teeth can be done in a couple of ways. There are different types of braces that you can consider in order to straighten your teeth, and you may also have the option of getting teeth-straightening surgery.
If you decide to go with braces, your choices may include:
- Metal braces. Dental braces are commonly used, and are a good option for patients that have more complex issues with their teeth alignment. They’ve grown much more comfortable over time, and now involve the use of smaller brackets.
- Invisible braces. These types of braces are just as the name implies—pretty much invisible. This helps for patients that want to make adjustments without having visible braces. The downside to invisible braces is that they may take longer than traditional braces to straighten teeth.
- Ceramic. Another material that can be used for braces is ceramic. Ceramic can be more fragile than metal braces, but they are also less noticeable.
- Lingual braces. Lingual braces are a sort of mix between invisible and metal. They are difficult to see because they are attached to the inside of the teeth instead of the outside. They are made from metal like traditional braces, though.
Teeth-straightening surgery may be an option if you want to speed up the process. This involves the repositioning of the gums and bones.
What Option Is Best for Me?
If your teeth are only a little crooked, you may not need to have them straightened. If you don’t like the aesthetic appearance or the movement and crowding of your teeth are leading to other oral health issues, though, you’ll want to consider options for correcting the movement.
Make an appointment with your dentist to discuss what options are best for the treatment of your crowded teeth, and what the timeline and costs may be. From there, you can put together a plan to straighten your teeth.