Dentists use braces to straighten crooked, misaligned, and crowded teeth. While getting braces can be inconvenient, lengthy, and costly, corrective dental braces have a high success rate and can leave you with a perfect, elegant smile and healthy teeth, smile, and gums. If you or your children could benefit from this orthodontic treatment, getting them as soon as possible is excellent. This blog post discusses different signs that could indicate whether you need braces, so you can work with your dentist to determine whether you are eligible.

You Have Crooked Teeth

Braces function by applying pressure to your jaws and teeth, shifting their position, and changing the appearance of your smile. Brackets fitted to your teeth secure an archwire that applies pressure to your teeth. With time, the pressure forces your crooked teeth to shift into alignment.

Knowing the construction of teeth can help you understand how braces work. The gingiva is the gum tissue surrounding the visible tooth part, while the periodontal membrane or ligament encases the tooth’s lower part.

As braces apply pressure, the periodontal membrane stretches on one side and compresses on the other, resulting in loose teeth. Then, a new bone grows to support the teeth. The process is known as bone remodeling, which is how braces straighten misaligned teeth.

Please note that you are not too old to use braces. However, there are benefits to starting the treatment earlier in life. As an adolescent, the underlying tissue and jawline are more flexible and developing, and your teeth could be more responsive to movement.

You Have Difficulties Chewing

Living with misaligned teeth can impact essential daily functions like chewing and eating. It can make breaking down food appropriately challenging, limit your dietary options, and affect digestion.

Below are bite issues corrected by braces:

  • Overbite — Braces shift the upper teeth back, ensuring they do not overshadow your lower teeth. The adjustment improves jaw alignment and lowers excessive wear.
  • Underbite — Braces gently move the lower teeth back and guide the upper teeth to a more prominent position.
  • Open bite — Braces close your open bite by guiding your teeth into a position where they meet properly, making eating more effective and comfortable.
  • Crossbite — Braces ensure each tooth is in perfect harmony with its counterparts.

You Want to Fix Speech Issues

Since how your tongue hits the teeth makes specific sounds, your teeth alignment is essential. The tongue must hit the mouth’s roof during speech to create a tight seal and allow you to speak effectively. That means when you have misaligned teeth or jaws, your speech could be altered since air escaping via these openings causes your tongue to hit your mouth’s roof improperly. Braces could restore your mouth to its proper form and improve your speech.

Below are common speech issues that braces fix:

  • Lisps—Lisp is common among patients with an open bite caused by thumb-sucking. It takes place when the tongue fails to connect with the mouth’s roof when pronouncing words with “z” and “s” sounds. Instead, the patients pronounce these sounds as if they have “th” sounds.
  • Whistling — It happens when you have excessive tooth spacing that permits air to pass via teeth when speaking. The spacing of teeth can be due to teeth growing improperly or dental treatments like veneers or crowns.

You Want to Prevent Gum Disease or Tooth Cavities

One way to prevent tooth cavities is by addressing misalignments in your teeth that make it challenging to clean them. Braces are an effective and popular way to fix tooth overcrowding and crookedness.

You can develop tooth decay and cavities with braces; food debris and sugar can be trapped under your braces. That is why you should follow your dentist’s dietary restrictions, brush twice daily, and floss once daily.

You Want to Fix Teeth Crowding

Teeth overcrowding is when teeth run out of space in the mouth in a misaligned manner. It can lead to some teeth sitting higher than others or being pushed ahead or behind others. Some causes of this issue include genes, abnormal gum growth, the size of your teeth, gum orientation, premature tooth loss, and extra teeth.

You should consider straightening your crowded teeth because:

  • Crowded teeth are vulnerable to tooth decay — When teeth overlap with minimal spaces between them, it could be challenging to clean them. Plaque and tartar accumulate easily between teeth, which could result in gum disease and decay if not cleaned regularly.
  • Crowded teeth can be painful and sensitive due to pressure against one another within the jaw. The additional pressure results in more wear on your teeth, resulting in lasting issues.
  • Crowded teeth create an uneven smile.

Dentists use braces for crowding problems by applying pressure to your teeth, making them move into the right alignment. Over time, the professional adjusts or tightens braces to account for how the teeth are shifting.

You Want to Close Gaps in the Teeth

If left untreated, gaps in teeth cause esthetic concerns and can result in severe dental issues. Tooth gaps can be due to natural skeletal development, tongue-thrusting, thumb-sucking, or genetics that push teeth out of alignment over time.

Generally, dentists use braces to close gaps, mainly between two upper teeth. As braces exert constant pressure, they guide teeth into their optimal pressure, closing the gaps. Your doctor can incorporate additional orthodontic appliances like retainers or rubber bands into your treatment plan to realize effective space closure. Retainers are commonly used to preserve teeth in their new position and prevent the recurrence of gaps after braces treatment.

Your Jaws Make Clicking Noise

Your bottom and top are connected through cartilage, allowing them to slide past one another when chewing. However, your jawbones might click or rub together when your teeth are improperly aligned. You might need braces if your jaws make unnerving noises or clicks whenever you wake up or eat.

Your Minor Child Sucks Thumb

Most young children suck their thumbs. While it does not cause any dental issues, for many children, it can result in real challenges that require treatment, mainly if the habit continues past five years.

These challenges include the following:

  • Teeth alignment — The leading indicator that a minor often sucks their thumb is a visible change in their front teeth. The habit can lead to their upper teeth protruding forward. When constantly applied to their mouth, the pressure from the child’s hand could also cause their lower front teeth to move forward.
  • Jaw — Your child’s upper jawbone can narrow so it does not match their lower jaw. This might cause a cross-bite because the lower and upper jaws do not fit together. The thumb can also create an opening between the bottom and top front teeth, preventing them from meeting and causing an open bite.
  • Speech — A bucked teeth or an open bite can affect your minor child’s speech. You might hear a lisp whenever your child pronounces the “s” and “z” sounds.
  • Facial shape — Your baby’s jaw shape influences their facial shape. An overbite that pushes the front teeth forward to accommodate the thumb can change the shape and look of the minor’s face.

You can correct teeth and jaw misalignment due to thumb sucking with braces. If the jaw shape has been changed, your dentist can recommend starting treatment early. That way, they can work with the minor’s growing jaw before their palate fuses if an expansion of their narrow jaw is needed.

You Cut Your Tongue on Your Teeth

It is not unusual to bite or cut your tongue. Nonetheless, it could be time to consult a doctor to see whether you need braces if the phenomenon is painful for an extended duration following the initial injury or occurs more often.

You Breathe Through Your Mouth

Orthodontic issues like jaw malocclusions, bone growth complications, and jaw misalignment make it harder to breathe via the nose, leading to chronic mouth breathing, sleep disorders, and sleep apnea.

Some of the ways to know you have a mouth-breathing issue include the following:

  • Bad breath
  • Snoring
  • Feeling irritable and tired after waking up
  • Dry mouth

Chronic mouth breathing can cause dental and skeletal malformations in children. These changes include:

  • Lower jaw rotation
  • Excessive molar eruption
  • Face having an elongated appearance

Mouth breathing is reversible with orthodontic treatment options like braces. The dentists will use braces to expand the jaw. The process causes the mouth to widen and open the sinuses, making it easier for the patient to breathe through their nose again.

You Want to Treat TMJ

TMJ is your jaw joint dysfunction affecting jaw joints and nearby ligaments and muscles. The condition causes numerous issues, like jaw pain, challenges closing and opening your mouth, and headaches. Other signs and symptoms of TMJ are facial pain, jaw stiffness, jaw clicking, earaches, migraines, and neck pain.

Braces apply gentle pressure to your teeth and jaws, with time shifting them to their right positions. In the treatment of TMJ, braces are helpful in several ways, including:

  • Improving your jaw position — By correctly aligning your jaw, braces help to relieve the strain on the temporomandibular joint, possibly reducing TMJ-linked discomfort.
  • Rectifying misalignment — Braces could address your dental alignments, for instance, a bad bite or malocclusion, which can result in TMJ signs and symptoms.
  • Supporting orthodontic treatment — TMJ might sometimes coexist with other orthodontic issues. Braces could help address these dental concerns with TMJ treatment, offering a comprehensive approach.
  • Balancing your bite — Braces could optimize your bite force, ensuring the lower and upper teeth meet properly. The balance can reduce stress on your jaw joint, relieving TMJ signs.

Although braces have potential benefits, you should consult your dentist to decide on the proper treatment plan.

You Lost Baby Teeth Too Late

Children sit, talk, and walk at different stages of their development. The same is true when your child is losing their baby teeth. The following orthodontic issues can arise if your juvenile child is a late bloomer and loses teeth later than usual:

  • Permanent teeth erupt behind baby teeth, making another row of teeth further back than it would otherwise be. If the baby tooth fails to fall out soon after, your dentist can recommend removing it.
  • When your baby’s permanent teeth erupt while there are baby teeth, your baby will have a crowded mouth that is attempting to accommodate the permanent and baby teeth.

If you are worried your child’ teeth will crowd the space or become crooked, your pediatrician can recommend braces. The braces hold the adjacent teeth in position to prevent them from shifting into the gap.

Improving Your Dental Hygiene

With braces, maintaining your dental hygiene becomes easier. A properly aligned set of teeth is more effective to clean than overlapping, crooked teeth. The toothbrush and bristles can reach every part of the mouth, reducing the risk of periodontal disease and cavities. Therefore, braces improve your dental health, leading to healthier gums and teeth.

You Want to Prevent Jawbone Erosion

Your misaligned teeth could place unnecessary pressure on specific jaw points, resulting in bone erosion over time. It could also lead to chronic pain in the jaw and other related health issues. Braces aid in evenly distributing the bite force exerted on the teeth whenever you bite or chew, decreasing the likelihood of bone erosion and encouraging overall dental health.

Find a Knowledgeable Orthodontic Dentist Near Me

Braces are an effective method to straighten teeth and correct dental challenges like crossbite, underbite, and overbite. If left untreated, the teeth can cause numerous issues, like challenges chewing, reduced self-esteem, and an increased risk of developing gum disease. At Northridge Advanced Dentistry, we recognize how challenging it can be to choose between different orthodontic treatment options. That is why we are dedicated to making your dental visits informative. We can treat you as family and answer all your questions so you can make wise decisions. Please contact us at 818-701-3010 to schedule your appointment and learn whether you qualify for braces. During your consultation, we can also discuss the pros and cons of braces and what to expect from the treatment.