Crooked Teeth

Crooked teeth and misaligned bites can:

• Interfere with proper chewing.
• Make keeping teeth clean more of a challenge, increasing the risk of tooth decay, cavities, gingivitis, and periodontal disease.
• Strain the teeth, increasing the risk of breaking a tooth.
• Make people feel self-conscious about their appearance and affect their self-esteem.

• Most often crooked teeth, overbites and underbites are inherited traits just as the colour of your eyes or size of your hands.
• Other causes of misaligned bites are early loss of baby or adult teeth
• Improper fit of dental fillings or crowns
• Gum disease or common oral health problems in children such as thumb sucking, tongue thrusting, pacifier use beyond the age of three, or prolonged use of a bottle.

Your dentist will look for the following signs:

• Abnormal alignment of teeth
• Abnormal appearance of the face
• Difficulty or discomfort when chewing or biting
• Speech difficulties (lisp)