Dental patients may face issues with overcrowded teeth for a variety of reasons. Genetics is the most common reason crowding happens. Dental professionals provide an assortment of services that can straighten the teeth and eliminate excess teeth in the mouth. By reviewing details about dental crowding, patients learn what to expect.

What Is Dental Crowding?

Dental crowding occurs when the patient doesn’t have enough room in their mouth for all their permanent teeth to erupt from the gum lines and stay straight. With crowded teeth, patients are more likely to have alignment issues and some teeth that may grow in the wrong direction. In addition, it can cause the patient to have front teeth that stick out too far or turn unfavorably. For some patients, their teeth will overlap each other.

There are three levels of crowding. Mild cases occur when one tooth is slightly rotated in the wrong direction. Moderate crowding is when there are at least two or three overlapping teeth. Finally, severe crowding is when most of the teeth overlap.

What Causes Crowded Teeth?

Teeth larger than the jaw won’t fit correctly within the jawline and start to twist and overlap. Patients with smaller-than-average jaws will have crowded teeth. If a child loses a primary tooth before its time, that will leave an empty gap where surrounding teeth could move into its place and cause crowding.

Surrounding teeth that move into an empty gap could cause crowded bottom teeth since the lower primary teeth are lost first. A child that didn’t lose their baby teeth as they should have will experience overcrowding in the mouth. What happens is that the baby teeth become tighter in the mouth because of excess teeth when the patient doesn’t lose the teeth properly.

What Are the Problems From Overcrowded Teeth?

With crowded teeth, patients will have hidden cavities and decay. They cannot get their toothbrush between all the teeth to remove plaque and keep the teeth and gums clean. Hidden cavities and decay between teeth let the teeth rot, and the patient will lose the teeth. When wisdom teeth erupt through the gum lines, they can become impacted because there isn’t enough room for the teeth to come out as they should. Impacted wisdom teeth lead to infections, gum flaps, and abscesses.

How Tooth Crowding Is Treated

Dental professionals treat crowded teeth by taking X-rays and reviewing the positioning of the teeth. Their assessment determines which teeth will give other teeth a chance to return to their proper alignment when removed.

Patients with crowded teeth often cannot get braces until after first addressing overcrowding. The teeth crowding treatment begins with the extraction process. After removing overcrowded teeth, the dentist will send the patient to an orthodontist to get braces that force the remaining teeth into alignment.

When reviewing how to fix crowded teeth, the dentist may get creative with some of the teeth. For example, a tooth that overlaps surrounding teeth will require reshaping. Because it overlapped, the tooth could become curved, and it cannot become straight on its own.

Even with braces, if the tooth itself is misshapen, the dentist must alter it. Veneers are an excellent solution for these teeth and offer a more aesthetically pleasing smile. The dentist will change the tooth’s shape to make it straight and bond veneers to the tooth.

Dental patients will need to undergo extraction procedures to eliminate excess teeth in their mouths. Too many teeth prevent patients from having straighter smiles, and this could make them self-conscious. Dental professionals offer fast solutions for the issues. Dental patients can learn more about dental crowding by contacting their preferred dental professional now.