How Crooked Teeth can be bad for your Health

Categories: Orthodontics

crooked teeth and oral healthSanta Cruz, Scotts Valley CA

Survey after survey shows the same thing: Your smile plays a major factor when making a first impression. For many people, how they feel about their teeth can be complicated—especially as modern society seems to become more and more about image. Maybe your teeth do not look the way you think they look, especially as compared to the celebrities in the limelight. Perhaps you are an adult who wasn’t lucky enough to sport metal braces—or maybe you had braces, but your teeth shifted back out of alignment later in life. Whatever the reason, if you are living with misaligned teeth, this can be bad for your health. Your Scotts Valley dentists at Ebrahimian Integrative Dentistry are here to tell you why.

Crooked teeth make it harder to maintain good oral hygiene

If your teeth are misaligned, twisted, or overlapping one another, this can hide some of the tooth surfaces and make them more difficult to clean. Any area of tooth surface that is hidden easily accumulates the food remnants that serve as a fuel source for the bacteria in your mouth, encouraging the development of the plaque that causes tooth decay and gum disease. If your teeth are aligned poorly and your dental hygiene is compromised then as a result, orthodontic treatment could be the solution.

Misaligned teeth make chewing more difficult

If your teeth are aligned correctly, your upper and lower teeth match up in a certain way, while also leaving room to slide when you chew. Misalignment can affect the ability of your teeth to chew, especially when eating tough or chewy foods such as meats and crunchy vegetables. If pieces of these foods get stuck in those difficult-to-clean areas, the problems magnify.

A poorly aligned bite can make you more vulnerable to developing temporomandibular joint disorder

This ailment, which also is referred to commonly as TMJ disorder or TMD, occurs when the temporomandibular joint enters a state of dysfunction. This joint is the hinge that allows your jaws to open and close, and make the side-to-side movements during chewing. If the joint starts to malfunction, this quickly can have a negative impact on your jaws themselves, as well as the surrounding musculature. Symptoms can expand throughout your body from that point, with one of the most common complaints being pain that usually is severe enough to be debilitating and impede your ability to function from day to day.

Functional orthodontics in Los Gatos

Ebrahimian Integrative Dentistry offers orthodontic treatment that goes beyond just making teeth appear straighter. We believe in functional orthodontics, which seeks to align your bite, but also can improve your facial profile and encourage proper development of the facial structure and jaws, as well as wider dental arches, helping to maintain a clear and open airway. Functional orthodontics also can be used as a successful treatment in cases of excessive tooth wear, severe crowding or spacing issues, or dental arch expansion for proper tongue positioning. To learn more about our program of functional orthodontics, please call (831) 824-5111 to schedule a consultation.

Ebrahimian Integrative Dentistry is proud to offer comprehensive oral health care for patients in Los Gatos, Santa Cruz, and Scotts Valley, California.