Do you feel sad and perturbed by your crowded bottom teeth that stop you from smiling and talking confidently in public?
Well, let’s have a look at what teeth crowding is and the common causes of bottom teeth crowding.
Understanding Teeth Crowding
For aligned teeth, your teeth shouldn’t be twisted, overlapped, crooked, or crowded and need to fit into your mouth perfectly. Any kind of misalignment in your teeth is referred to by orthodontists as malocclusion.
Bottom teeth crowding is one such type of malocclusion where your teeth overlap and look tightly packed. Apart from aesthetic issues, bottom teeth overcrowding could lead to dental health issues too as crowded teeth would be difficult to clean.
The symptoms of bottom teeth crowding include gum diseases, cavities forming in places where teeth come in contact, difficulty in cleaning teeth, food getting trapped between teeth, speech challenges like lisping, misaligned teeth, and bad breath.
Common Causes of Bottom Teeth Crowding
A common dental condition that affects both children and adults alike, let’s have a detailed look at the common causes that result in bottom teeth crowding.
Hereditary Factors
As per the studies conducted by the U.S. National Library of Medicine, genetics could be the reason why you may have developed misalignment or bottom teeth crowding.
There are chances that you have inherited the dental features of your parents, and that may have caused your bottom teeth to crowd. So, genetic predisposition is a major element that has to be factored in while trying to understand the reasons behind bottom teeth crowding.
Jaw Size
The size of your jaw plays a key role in the alignment of your teeth. Some people are born with a smaller jaw and this could result in bottom teeth crowding.
Also with age, the size of the jaws will decrease, causing a mismatch in the size of teeth and jaw. On average, the shrinkage of the jaw could be only a few millimeters, but this is considered enough to cause bottom teeth crowding.
The extent to which the jaw shrinks is different from person to person and in some people, it may not cause any problem at all.
Early Loss of Baby Teeth
Research shows that premature loss of baby teeth has been a deciding factor in the occurrence of malocclusions and that it increased the chances of bottom teeth crowding.
Adolescents who have experienced tooth decay may experience a higher instance of bottom teeth crowding.
Over-Retained Baby Teeth
If the baby teeth are retained for a prolonged duration, this will result in the permanent teeth not erupting at the right time. Preventing the timely eruption of permanent teeth would result in dental crowding.
Aging
Even if one has perfectly aligned teeth in their prime, as time progresses, there are chances that dental crowding might occur. As we age, the density of our bones tends to decline, this includes the declining density of jawbones as well.
The decrease in the size of jaws could result in misalignment of teeth and thus contribute to crowded bottom teeth. A shrunken jaw won’t have enough space to fit together all of the teeth perfectly, and the bottom front teeth are more susceptible to crowding.
Prolonged Thumb Sucking Habits
Almost everyone passes through thumb-sucking habits during infanthood and childhood, and in most cases, it won’t cause any problems. But continuous thumb-sucking habits could put pressure on the teeth and jaw, leading to misalignment of teeth and resulting in bottom teeth crowding.
Improper Dental Care
Not having regular dental checkups would mean that dental issues like gum diseases and tooth decay would go unchecked and untreated, often paving the way to malocclusions like dental crowding.
Treatment Options
There are various treatment options to look at once you’ve decided to treat your bottom teeth crowding. The commonly used methods by orthodontists to treat bottom teeth crowding are:
- Braces
- Retainers
- Extractions or surgery
- Invisalign treatment
Final Thoughts
Though some causes like tooth decay, gum diseases, and over-retainment of baby teeth could be prevented with good dental care and timely intervention, the major causes that lead to dental crowding of bottom teeth and malocclusion are by and large not under our control, like genetic predisposition and aging.
Don’t shy away from visiting an orthodontist or dental health professional to seek the help that you need. There is a wide range of dental treatments that you could choose from.
Bottom teeth crowding is a common dental issue, and there is no need for you to hide that beautiful smile when there are ways that could help you to smile confidently again!