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In dentistry, crowded teeth are also known as misaligned teeth, and crowding is also called overcrowded teeth or malocclusion, but the right dental term is crowding. Crowding of the teeth occurs from crooked or tightly packed teeth.
Overcrowded teeth is a type of malocclusion which means that the teeth are not properly aligned. Adults with malocclusion have misaligned teeth which could lead to other dental complications.
Different treatments for crowded teeth in adults are available, but one of the most effective is braces. You can speak to your orthodontist to know the different types of braces available and the most suitable for you.
You may decide not to straighten your teeth, especially if it does not put you at risk of developing other dental issues. The truth is, most people do not have perfectly aligned teeth. Sometimes, it may be difficult to clean crooked and crowded teeth, and food may get stuck between the teeth which leads to the build-up of bacteria and plaque, but some persons with crowded teeth do not have a problem with brushing their teeth.
Crowding occurs when there is no space in the jaw to accommodate the teeth. Crowding can occur due to different reasons. For example, you can have crowded teeth if the bone does not grow to the right size and too small compared to the teeth. People also have overcrowded teeth when the teeth are too big to fit into the space available for them. If you have crowded teeth, your teeth will be misaligned and may displace towards or away from the tongue. Overcrowding may result from rotated teeth.
Before your orthodontic treatment, your orthodontist will measure the degree of overcrowding. Classification of crowding includes severe, moderate, and mild crowding.
Different treatments are available to correct each degree of crowding, but most people use braces. You can either use fixed or removable braces to correct your crowded teeth, but if the crowding is severe, your orthodontist will recommend fixed braces.
The aim of treating crowding is usually to increase the bone size to accommodate more teeth, a process called expansion or to reduce the teeth size.
Correcting crowded teeth for most patients is easy. If your bottom or upper teeth are crowded, you could visit or contact an orthodontist to correct it with any of the following treatments.
If the overcrowding is severe or moderate, your orthodontist may recommend teeth extraction to create space for the realignment of other teeth. When the orthodontist takes out some teeth, he/she redistributes the other teeth. This treatment positions the teeth properly and makes the smile more attractive.
Although this treatment is effective, most dentists and orthodontists do not always recommend it, and most patients are scared of removing their teeth because there are lots of stories about teeth extractions disfiguring people’s faces.
However, there are no scientific facts to back up these horror tooth extraction stories, if the dentist does the tooth extraction correctly, your appearance and the stability of your teeth will not change.
Dental stripping or slenderising is a treatment option for correcting mild to moderate overcrowding. This treatment involves the dentist passing a small disc or sandpaper in between the teeth to reduce the width of the teeth.
Teeth reduction aims to make the teeth slimmer, so they can easily move. It creates extra space between the teeth which helps make the teeth more aesthetically pleasing. With teeth reduction, removing the teeth is not necessary, although tooth sensitivity may arise and affect all the other teeth after the procedure. However, extraction only affects the extracted tooth.
If the crowding is severe, dental stripping may not be a suitable option, and extraction may be the only option to correct the crowding. However, some dentists claim that they never extract teeth to correct overcrowding.
To get the best result, the dentist may need to assess each individual to determine whether or not extraction is necessary because correcting overcrowding requires personalised treatment. Trying to correct severe overcrowding with other treatment options instead of extraction may result in an unstable and unattractive looking teeth.
Expansion is another common method of correcting overcrowding. Children with overcrowded teeth can get this treatment to make their teeth look aesthetic, but not all adults may get a desirable result.
Generally, orthodontists can expand the molars on the upper arch to about 3mm, and they would still be stable, so this limits the success of the treatment in adults. If the arch of an adult is over expanded, it could cause a relapse. If a relapse occurs, the bone returns to its former position and makes all the teeth come together. This occurs because the bones found in the head are not firm, but in children, it is easy to expand the bone using removable or fixed braces.
The arch expansion will make the bone bigger, and the child may not need any other treatment for overcrowding and realignment of the teeth. The bones in the head of adults are fused, so the amount of expansion possible may not be sufficient to correct overcrowding. Some adults still get outstanding results using arch expansion.
If you have crowded teeth and you have decided to correct them, contact Adult Braces London on 020 31373179 to book an appointment with our experienced dentist who will first examine your teeth to create a personalised treatment for you.