People with crooked teeth may find themselves hiding their mouth when they talk or smile, affecting their self-confidence and preventing them from living their life to the fullest.
Whether the result of thumbsucking in childhood or the chance of genetics, crooked teeth not only compromise your smile, but they can also put you at risk for long-term oral health issues, such as tooth decay and gum disease.
If you have misaligned teeth, it is critical to visit your dentist to discuss how to fix crooked teeth with dental crowns, dental veneers, and braces, so you can have the smile you deserve.
How to Fix Crooked Teeth With These Dental Treatments?
When you talk to your dentist about how to fix your crooked teeth, they will address your concerns and then recommend the most appropriate dental treatment for your needs.
Whether you are prescribed veneers to mask an overlapping front tooth, dental crowns to restore integrity to crooked premolars or braces to correct a malocclusion, our team at No Gaps Dental can straighten your smile, improve your oral health and boost your self-confidence.
Dental Veneers
Dental veneers are thin porcelain, ceramic, or composite shells that can be applied to mildly crooked teeth to enhance their shape, colour, and overall appearance.
After a consultation with the dentist, your dentist prepares your teeth for both temporary veneers and final porcelain veneers by removing a small amount of enamel from the front of the tooth. Once cemented in place, porcelain dental veneers look so natural that no one can tell they aren’t your natural teeth.
Typical dental veneers take weeks to fabricate; however, you can also use CEREC technology to get dental veneers. CEREC stands for Chairside Economical Restoration of Esthetic Ceramic, which means faster, high-quality dental veneers, resulting in less time in the dental chair.
CEREC technology can quickly make dental veneers that are more efficient than traditional methods. The dental veneers are fabricated on-site using CAD/CAM technology and carved from a solid block of ceramic. The dentist completes them by staining, glazing, and polishing. Using CEREC, you can have permanent dental veneers bonded the very same day, so no need for temporary veneers and a follow-up appointment.
Dental Crowns
Dental crowns can straighten crooked teeth. Dental crowns are custom-fitted and affixed indefinitely, encasing a tooth above the gum line. This procedure is usually recommended whenever there is concern about the strength and stability of crooked teeth. Before placing the dental crowns, your dentist cleans and files the natural tooth structure with a grinding tool to prepare it for a dental crown.
Dental crowns can be made using CEREC technology to give a natural appearance that blends your natural teeth. Our dental practices use this technology to fabricate custom-fit ceramic dental crowns.
The CEREC dental crowns are permanently put in place without using a temporary crown or extra dental chair time.
Braces or Aligners
For severely crooked teeth, metal braces and ceramic braces both are common treatments. Ceramic braces have tooth-coloured brackets and archwires, so they look almost like natural teeth. They work in the same way as traditional metal braces, which are gradually tightened and adjusted to treat severely crooked teeth.
If you prefer a more subtle option, you can wear ClearCorrect aligner braces over your teeth like a mouthguard. Each aligner moves the teeth by a tiny fraction of a millimetre. Wearing braces for at least 22 hours a day is necessary to achieve the best results. By the time the final aligner is worn, the teeth should be in their proper position.
Clear aligners are ideal for moderate malocclusions but may be unsuitable for treating issues such as teeth rotated over 20°, supraerupted teeth, or microdontia.
What Causes Teeth to Become Crooked?
Both baby teeth and permanent teeth may become crooked naturally over time due to several factors, including:
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Genetics
Your genes play an important role in the size and shape of your jaw, which affects how your teeth fit into your mouth, resulting in overcrowding and crooked teeth.
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Childhood Behaviours
Behaviours such as sucking your thumb can lead to crooked teeth. Some temporary baby teeth also grow crooked because their teeth are too small to fit into their gum spaces in their mouths.
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Malocclusion
If your teeth and jaw do not seem to fit well together, this is because of malocclusion or misaligned jaw. Various types of malocclusions include underbite and overbite. In an underbite, the bottom teeth protrude over the front teeth, while in an overbite, the upper teeth overlap beyond the bottom teeth. Malocclusion can lead to crooked teeth since the teeth are forced to shift because of uneven pressure.
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Diet
Since the food in our diets has gradually become more processed, less chewing is required, resulting in smaller jaws leading to crooked teeth. An unhealthy diet during childhood can cause tooth decay and problems with teeth development that could cause crooked teeth.
How to Prevent Crooked Teeth?
Even though genetics play a significant part in some crooked teeth, there are some steps to help prevent some of them, such as:
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Prevention of Childhood Behaviours
Your child’s baby teeth will fall out and be replaced by their adult teeth as they grow. Discourage your child from sucking their thumbs and avoid dummies as much as possible to prevent misaligned and crooked teeth. As soon as their first tooth erupts, teach them oral hygiene to ensure their teeth remain healthy.
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Wisdom Teeth
Wisdom teeth typically erupt between 17-25 years old. However, if you don’t have enough room in your jaw, it can cause misalignment. Your dentist may recommend wisdom tooth removal if the wisdom tooth is pressing against your adjacent teeth, causing them to become crooked.
A dental professional may perform a simple or complex extraction to remove a wisdom tooth, depending on whether it has fully erupted or become impacted.
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Regular Oral Hygiene
The absence of one tooth from tooth decay or gum disease may cause the other teeth to shift along the periodontal membrane, leading to crookedness. Good oral hygiene can help you maintain your teeth, and using a mouthguard while participating in sports can protect your teeth from getting knocked out.
Discuss Fixing Your Crooked Teeth With No Gaps Dental
No Gaps Dental knows how important it is for your self-confidence and oral health to have your crooked teeth straightened. Call us today at (02) 8806 0227 to arrange a consultation and begin your journey to a beautiful, straight smile.