Orthodontic dental treatment is the specialized field of dentistry that deals with the diagnosis, prevention, and correction of dental and facial irregularities using corrective appliances like braces and clear aligners. Orthodontists help patients with positioning teeth and supporting bone structures in a harmonious, functional, and aesthetically pleasing position in the oral cavity.
As a patient with dental and facial irregularities, you should learn the physiological, functional, and behavioral clues that indicate a need for orthodontic treatment. This blog explains the diagnosis of malocclusions, speech and mastication problems, and important developmental milestones in children. These diagnostic red flags can help you decide whether or not you need an orthodontist’s help.
This guide helps you identify whether you need orthodontic treatment like braces and maintain the long-term structural and functional health of your teeth.
You Have Observable Signs of Dental Malalignment
Crooked or spaced teeth are a cosmetic issue that can be a manifestation of underlying anatomical and physiological problems. The first clear sign of structural discrepancies that need orthodontic treatment to prevent long-term decay, enamel wear, and soft-tissue injury is by looking at the positioning of your dental structures in the mirror.
You are a good candidate for braces if you can see the following:
Noticeable Crowding or Overlapping Teeth
If the space is not sufficient, permanent teeth will rotate or overlap, causing an improper position. This is because of the limitations of the jaw structure that do not allow the teeth to line up side by side. If teeth are not in an orderly line, it is very hard to perform basic dental care.
Overlapping enamel creates tight spaces that standard toothbrush bristles can’t reach. This situation leads to pockets of food particles and plaque. The bacterial plaque becomes hardened over time and causes localized chronic gingivitis and progressive enamel demineralization.
Dental braces continuously and accurately stretch the periodontal ligament (PDL) to start bone remodeling. This process will slowly move each tooth into a healthy linear position.
The dental crowding that is not corrected can cause the following biological problems, including:
- Enamel degradation around contact points of overlapping teeth
- Localized periodontal disease occurs because of highly inaccessible plaque traps
- Progressive decay on the rotated contact surfaces of the teeth
Visible Gaps and Spacing (Diastema)
Excessive gaps between the teeth are referred to as diastemas. These gaps could result from the teeth being too small for the jawbone or from the absence of some teeth at birth. Your teeth can move out of place when there is no lateral support from neighboring teeth due to the pressure of chewing day to day. They are open spaces that allow the underlying soft gum tissue to be directly irritated by the hard, crunchy, or fibrous food.
In addition, these areas are deep food traps and are susceptible to bacterial colonization. These large gaps can cause chronic bad breath and deep pockets that can cause pain if left untreated.
The effects of untreated diastemas are:
- Gradual and progressive physical destabilization of the whole dental arch
- Alveolar bone loss where the teeth are not in contact
- Chronic food impaction leading to localized chronic periodontal infection and progressive tissue inflammation that is painful
You Have Bite Problems and Malocclusions
A healthy bite is like a system of gears with even distribution of forces between the gears. If this balance is disturbed by malocclusions, the friction and mechanical stress can lead to deterioration of the enamel, break healthy teeth, and lead to progressive changes in the underlying bone of your jaw.
Overbites and Underbites
Overbite is when there is too much overlap between the upper and lower front teeth in the vertical plane. If this overlap is extreme, your lower teeth may rub against the soft tissues of your palate, resulting in painful ulcerations. On the other hand, if your upper front teeth stick out horizontally from your lower front teeth, they are susceptible to physical damage (overjet).
With an underbite, the lower jaw is in front of the upper jaw, giving the jaw a prominent chin line. This structural imbalance can cause a lot of stress to your front teeth, as they have to bear forces that they are not meant to. You may have trouble chewing common foods and increased wear on posterior teeth from compensation.
The clinical problems are:
- Wear on the lower incisal edges
- Lacerations of soft tissue of the palate
- Traumatic fracture of anterior teeth
Braces restore these relationships, creating a balance and easing mechanical stresses.
Crossbites and Open Bites
A crossbite is when one or more of the upper teeth bite into the lower teeth. This may involve either the front or back teeth and can make it difficult for your jaw to rest in a normal position. This is a continual lateral compensation that results in an asymmetric growth of the jaws and an uneven development of the facial muscles over time.
An open bite is where the front teeth of the upper and lower jaws don’t touch each other, even with the back teeth touching. A tongue thrust or childhood behaviors can often cause this condition. An open bite makes it difficult to chew food properly and causes the back teeth to take the full strain of chewing, causing them to become fractured and sensitive.
Braces will rectify these imbalances and ensure the arches are in a balanced lateral position, avoiding long-term structural damage.
You Notice Functional Red Flags and Experience Physical Discomfort
The relationship between the teeth, tongue, and the jaw joints is crucial for everyday activities such as talking, eating, and breathing. If these processes are interrupted on an ongoing basis, it means that your dental arches may not fit properly, which can cause systemic strain, breathing problems, and structural wear.
Chronic Mouth Breathing and Narrow Palates
Often, unconscious mouth breathing will directly indicate a constricted dental arch or narrow palate, limiting the size of the nasal cavity. Mouth breathing leads to rapid drying of the oral cavity, which is a sensitive area.
Saliva is important because it provides your teeth with critical minerals that neutralize acids and prevent decay. Without saliva, your teeth can develop cavities quickly, and your gums can become irritated.
In children, chronic mouth breathing can actually cause changes in the shape of the bones of the face, causing a longer face and a recessed lower jaw. Chronic mouth breathing can cause the following biological problems:
- A sudden increase in the number of children with severe, painful tooth decay
- Severely altered pediatric facial growth patterns
- Persistent dental, oral, and gum tissue inflammation and chronic physical pain
Braces can be used in conjunction with palatal expanders to open the upper jaw, which will allow for a natural and healthy breathing pattern throughout the life of the child.
Impeded Chewing Efficiency and Digestive Impact
Your teeth are important for digestion because they are used to break food into small, digestible pieces. When teeth do not properly fit together, there is a substantial loss of masticatory efficiency, requiring you to swallow large chunks. This puts an undue strain on your gastrointestinal system and can lead to chronic indigestion and poor absorption of nutrients.
Your jaw muscles may also become tired after eating normally, as they need to exert more effort to chew. Dentition with an uneven bite leads to uneven forces being placed on the teeth, resulting in excessive forces on certain teeth. This overloading causes micro-fractures, sensitivity, and fast tooth wear in the affected area.
Corrective orthodontics like braces distribute chewing forces evenly among all teeth, which will protect your gastrointestinal system and keep your natural teeth.
Speech Difficulties and Articulation Problems
The coordination of your tongue against your teeth and palate ensures clear speech. Your tongue cannot form correct points if you have a large gap between your teeth, severe crowding, or a misaligned bite. You may have difficulty pronouncing sibilant and alveolar consonants like “s,” “z,” “t,” and “d.” This challenge could be a constant lisp or an unappealing whistling sound when talking, as air leaks out through unexpected holes. These structural speech problems may impact your everyday social interactions and job self-confidence in social settings and at work.
Orthodontic treatment, like braces, changes the shape of your dental arches, giving your tongue the proper physical structure it requires for clear, natural, and easy pronunciation.
Structural and Neuromuscular Symptoms
Often, orthodontic problems manifest as constant muscle tension and joint inflammation outside the mouth. An improper bite causes the muscles of mastication to compensate all the time, causing chronic pain in the head, neck, and temporomandibular joint systems.
TMJ Dysfunction and Jaw Clicking
The temporomandibular (TMD) joints are the complex sliding hinges that join your lower jaw to your skull. If your bite is misaligned, the joints are forced to work in an unnatural and strained manner to align the teeth.
Jaw joints might click, pop, or lock when chewing, talking, or yawning. This over-straining of the mechanics results in a lot of chronic inflammation in the joint capsule, which can cause chronic facial pain, severe earaches, and debilitating tension headaches. These painful symptoms are often first treated with pain relievers, but many people don’t realize that their teeth are the cause. Braces will straighten your bite, and your TMJ will be in its most natural, relaxed, and structurally balanced physical position.
Facial Asymmetry and Bone Resorption
Your lips, cheeks, and facial contours rely on the structure of your teeth and jawbones. If your teeth are so out of alignment or your jaws do not align properly, you might see asymmetry in your face, such as a sunken cheek or an uneven lip line.
In addition, your jawbone depends on the mechanical load of a well-balanced bite for density and volume. When the teeth are missing or non-functional, the jaw will start to resorb in certain areas. This can result in a loss of your remaining dental support, leading to premature collapse of your facial features and an older appearance.
Braces restructure the bone and balance your facial profile, maintaining a healthy jawbone and even facial balance.
Pediatric-Specific Signs
Early childhood dental development can be monitored to provide interceptive orthodontics that can influence growth below the fusion of jaw bones. Certain oral habits and the timing of the shedding of baby teeth can be important clues that an early evaluation by an orthodontist is necessary.
Long-Term Thumb-Sucking and Pacifier Use
Thumb sucking and pacifier use are perfectly normal ways for infants to self-soothe, but can lead to structural issues if they persist beyond the age of 4. A thumb or pacifier constantly pressing against the soft roof of a child’s mouth can constrict the upper jaw, causing the front teeth to be pushed out. This pressure can lead to a large horizontal overjet or a deep open bite.
An early evaluation is needed if you observe your child’s front teeth flaring when biting down and/or a gap between the front teeth is visible. Interceptive orthodontics, like braces, can help guide the growth of the jaw, correct these problems before the permanent teeth come in, and avoid complex surgical procedures in the future.
Early or Late Loss of Primary Teeth
Baby tooth eruption follows a natural sequence that can be used to predict the eruption of permanent teeth. When your child loses a baby tooth too early because of decay or injury, the adjacent teeth may move into the space. This floating prevents the permanent tooth from coming in and may result in an impacted or misaligned permanent tooth.
On the other hand, if baby teeth are not kept for too long, the permanent teeth may come in behind or beside the baby teeth, resulting in an overcrowding of the permanent teeth.
It is important to have a professional orthodontic evaluation if you observe certain issues in your child’s mouth, like persistent empty spaces or crowded teeth. Other developmental problems are:
- Shifting adjacent teeth into gaps
- Eruption of crowded double rows
- Loss of dental arch length
Space maintainers or early pediatric braces can help maintain or create space for adult teeth to come in properly.
Orthodontic Treatment Solutions and Alternatives
There are various effective dental methods available in modern dentistry that can help in correcting dental misalignments and restoring balanced functioning. Corrective treatments can be administered with traditional devices or today’s new clear devices and are tailored to the specific clinical requirements, lifestyle, and anatomical objectives of the patient.
Traditional Metal and Ceramic Braces
Braces are effective in treating complex structural alignment problems. This orthodontic system comprises high-quality stainless steel or ceramic brackets, which are bonded to every tooth and linked with an archwire.
With traditional metal braces, the archwire provides continuous and gentle pressure that is transmitted via the brackets to the periodontal ligament. This pressure encourages bone remodeling, which will help your teeth shift safely and predictably into their proper and healthy positions.
An alternative that is more aesthetically pleasing is ceramic brackets, which are less noticeable than their metal counterparts and match the natural color of your teeth. The tension can be adjusted regularly so that the orthodontists can fine-tune the tension to correct severe crowding, rotations, and complex bite problems with high clinical precision and long-term predictability.
The mechanical advantages of braces are the following:
- Excellent physical accuracy in achieving complex skeletal corrections
- Uninterrupted, highly controlled force application without maintenance
- A variety of aesthetic bracket options, such as clear ceramic brackets
Clear Aligner Systems
Clear aligner systems like Invisalign are a contemporary and exceptionally aesthetic option to conventional braces. It is a system of custom-made, transparent thermoplastic trays that fit snugly over your teeth and apply gentle, targeted forces to guide your teeth into place.
These are virtually invisible, so they are popular among busy working adults and active teenagers who prefer a low-profile treatment option. The trays can be removed to eat, brush, and floss as usual so that you can enjoy good oral hygiene without the need for any dietary restrictions.
The series of trays is worn for 1 to 2 weeks at a time and will move your teeth in a predictable, digitally planned clinical treatment plan. The benefits of this are:
- Cosmetic appearance that is almost imperceptible and fits into professional and social life
- Easily removable for brushing, flossing, and daily cleaning
- Comfortable, smooth thermoplastic surface that is soft tissue-friendly
Find an Agoura Hills Orthodontist Near Me
The first step to determine whether braces are the ideal orthodontic treatment for your oral issues is to recognize the clinical signs of dental misalignment. Whether you are a parent noticing your child having trouble with thumb-sucking or you are an adult experiencing TMJ pain and speech problems, you should take action quickly. Malocclusions and crowding cause an increased prevalence of periodontal disease, bone erosion, and tooth loss. At Agoura Hills Advanced Dentistry, our orthodontists have worked with patients of all ages in Agoura Hills and are experienced in offering orthodontic solutions like braces. We are prepared to assess your individual dental anatomy and create a personalized treatment strategy to restore your natural function and confidence. Call our dental office today at 818-878-7300 to book an appointment for your professional consultation and learn whether braces will resolve your dental problems.