What Causes Teeth To Gap?

By Author: Henry Tyler
Total Articles: 31
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Sometimes, even braces won’t save your teeth from shifting and changing its appearance. There are plenty of reasons why your teeth won’t stay put. Your Arizona dentist knows that things like age, genetics, grinding, bad habits like smoking and tearing on things with your teeth and lastly, cavities are the main offenders. These factors can easily end up in gaps and misalignment but you do not have to worry though because these problems can be fixed. If you can detect the root cause, you will be able to stop those changes from getting serious.

Common Causes of Teeth Shifting

1. Age

As we get older, the part between the teeth begins to erode gradually and this causes the enamel to get thinner. Our lower teeth is thinner naturally thus they are the ones who wear through first. If the lower teeth experiences more deterioration, it won’t be capable of bearing up to the upper teeth’s force when biting or tearing down. This results into shifting or teeth gaps.

2. Cavities/Decay

Once tooth decay worsens, the rot can spread to the bone and the gums. It will affect the bone that puts your teeth ...
... in place, gradually loosening them. When your cavities are filled properly, the composite can set off changes to your teeth and at times it can affect your bite as well.

3. Genetics

You currently have a set of perfect teeth at this stage in your life, but because of your genes, your teeth might shift later on so it is still a good idea to visit your Arizona dentist once a year.

4. Teeth grinding

The lower jaw gets pushed forward, which brings tension to the top teeth. Habitual thrusting or grinding of the teeth has a serious effect on the upper teeth’s position. Eventually the teeth gets pushed out of its alignment.

5. Tooth loss

The surrounding teeth gets affected once a tooth gets extracted or loose.

Treatment and Prevention

Your dentist will first check the cause of the gaps and afterward provide a treatment that’s best for the problem. Bad habits like thumbsucking have to be corrected and avoided. If the patient has gum disease and loose teeth it is best that she consult a periodontist and get proper treatment first to ensure the gums will be in peak health before taking the next step. A list of possible procedures to help the development of teeth shifting is as follows:

1. Braces

This can prevent teeth from gaps or shifting by moving the teeth together. A complete set of braces is needed to completely align both upper and lower teeth in place. You can choose the common metal wire brace or lingual braces that can be sported behind the teeth. If you do not like the look of braces you can always go for Invisalign braces. Invisalign covers the teeth but are completely see-through.

2. Dental Implants/Bridges/Partial dentures

At times the teeth can get loose, or it gets worse once tooth decay sets in thus it needs to be extracted. They can fill in the gaps left by missing teeth.

3. Veneers/Crowns/Bonding

These procedures can make your teeth wider. They can also connect the gaps between the teeth.

You can talk to your Arizona dentist about treatments that are offered and decide on one that goes with your budget constraints and your needs. If you live around Arizona and you are looking for a cosmetic dentist Chandler AZ has plenty of clinics like Kyrene Family Dentistry specializing not only in annual dental exams and oral care, but procedures like dental implants, teeth whitening and veneers as well.

Looking for a Chandler dentist? Kyrene Family Dentistry offers quality teeth whitening Chandler services. Head on to Kyrene Family Dentistry and get that perfect smile!