How to Fix Crooked Bottom Teeth: Causes and Solutions
Crooked bottom teeth plague many people, even those with the best smiles. While you shouldn’t be ashamed of your teeth, you may still feel like you want to fix them for cosmetic or health reasons. There are a number of options available to both children, teens, and adults to help fix crooked bottom teeth, leaving you with a confident and healthy smile.
Causes of Crooked Bottom Teeth
Anyone can develop crooked bottom teeth. Having crooked bottom teeth as a child is often most associated with using a pacifier or sucking a thumb for too long. The teeth may also just come in crooked naturally. Other causes for crooked bottom teeth are:
- Issues when baby teeth come in
- Using a pacifier or thumb sucking for too long
- Genetics or hereditary factors
- Jaw size and alignment
- Trauma or injury
Many times there is little to prevent teeth from forming crooked, but there are solutions that your orthodontist can recommend to fix them.
Why Fix Crooked Bottom Teeth
Fixing crooked teeth is a personal choice, depending on how you feel about them and your budget. If you feel uncomfortable about the look of them, that may be a good reason to look into fixing crooked them. However, sometimes crooked bottom teeth can be more serious than just the appearance of them.
Having crooked bottom teeth can cause health issues such as:
- Excess wear on teeth, gums, and the jaw muscles
- Speech difficulties, often due to jaw misalignment
- Chewing and digestion issues
- Periodontal disease, if the teeth aren’t cleaned properly
Fixing Crooked Bottom Teeth
To fix crooked bottom teeth, speak with your orthodontist about the best course of treatment. They will be able to determine which direction is right for you and take into considerations such as time and budget, if possible.
Traditional Braces
When you think about fixing any teeth, your mind probably goes to traditional braces. The braces, whether metal or ceramic, are attached to the teeth with a variation of wires, brackets, and bands. While braces were once dreaded by patients, they have evolved quite a bit over the years to be more comfortable and stylish. If you are only concerned about your bottom teeth, you might be able to just get braces on the bottom but this should be discussed with your orthodontist.
Invisible Braces
As an alternative to traditional braces, you can choose to go with invisible braces, like Invisalign, depending on the severity of your crooked bottom teeth. These are custom made trays specifically designed to move your teeth over time to the correct positioning. To do this, you will use a new set of trays every couple weeks.
Fixed Retainer
After your braces treatment is completed, you may need to use a retainer, or even a fixed retainer. A fixed retainer is a retainer that cannot be removed and prevents your teeth from shifting back to their original position. They are used on both top and bottom teeth, but are more common for bottom teeth.
Surgery
Surgery is recommended to lessen the time you have to wear braces or if your jaw needs realigning to straighten crooked bottom teeth. The surgery may be a minor procedure that repositions the bones and gums, or it could be a more involved one called orthognathic surgery. Orthognathic surgery is only recommended when the teeth affect your speaking or chewing ability.
Are You Ready to Fix Your Crooked Bottom Teeth?
Crooked bottom teeth are nothing to be ashamed of and are very common among children and adults. However, if they are affecting your confidence or are becoming a health concern, it might be time to seek out treatment. Take the next step and reach out to your orthodontist to discuss options to fixing your crooked bottom teeth.
