When you have dental misalignment, this could mean risks to your oral health with time. Which is why your Fort Worth, TX, orthodontist wants to offer straighter smiles with orthodontic treatment. In today’s blog, find out what could cause misalignment, and how treatment is possible for kids, teens, and adults.
The Causes of Malocclusion
Why do we have an uneven smile in the first place? A number of factors could lead to crooked, crowded, and overlapping teeth, in both childhood and adulthood. In childhood, issues with the growth of the jaw could lead to poor alignment, as could the premature loss of baby teeth, impacted permanent teeth, or even thumb sucking and tongue thrusting. The arrival of the wisdom teeth in our late teens and early 20s could alter the alignment of our smile. Losing teeth in adulthood to injury or gum disease could cause surrounding teeth to drift due to the new gap in the smile.
The Impact Over Time
When we have an uneven smile, this is often difficult to properly brush and floss. Which means the risk of tooth decay, dental infection, and even gingivitis and gum disease increases significantly. In addition, poor alignment could mean major stress on your jaw joints and overall bite balance. Over time, this increases the risk of issues like TMJ disorder and bruxism (chronic teeth grinding). Finally, you could simply feel uncomfortable with the appearance of your smile, which has a negative impact on your social interactions. But you don’t have to live with misalignment, you can contact our team for treatment!
Treatment Options
First, we will carefully examine your smile with advanced imaging systems so we can create the right treatment plan for your smile. For kids as young as age seven, we start with a phased approach to limit misalignment and guide the growth of the smile, including the use of retainers and teeth spacers. For teens and adults, we could use braces and Invisalign®. To make braces less visible, we could use ceramic brackets that blend with the teeth. The Invisalign® aligners are practically invisible, which makes them a popular choice for our patients.
If you have any questions about how we approach treating misalignment for smiles of all ages, or if you’re ready to schedule a consultation and see which is right for you, then contact our team today to learn more.
Do You Have Poor Alignment?
We want to help you maintain good oral health and a straighter smile with orthodontics. If you have any questions treating poor alignment for smiles of all ages, or if you would like to schedule an appointment soon, please call Lake Country Orthodontics in Fort Worth, TX at (817) 236-7846. Our office proudly serves patients who live in Haslet, Azle, and all surrounding communities.
