7 July 2020
Dr. Vishal Sharma outlines some common dental cases that are eligible for braces or Invisalign. In this video Dr. Sharma explains the causes of crowding, protrusion, under bite, and cross bite. For mor answers to common orthodontic questions head to: https://www.auraortho.com
Transcript:
Hi, I’m Dr. Vishal Sharma from Aura Orthodontics.
Today we’re going to talk about the most common problems that patients have
and the reasons that they come see us.
First, let’s talk about crowding teeth.
Crowding can present itself in many ways
overlapping teeth, rotated teeth, and teeth that are blocked out.
It’s very important to understand why you have crowding
so that we can come up with a proper treatment plan.
There are several reasons why teeth can be crowded.
Sometimes teeth are too big for small jaws,
sometimes bad habits lead to bad tooth position,
and sometimes baby teeth are lost too early and this way adult teeth come out in all different places.
Next let’s talk about spacing.
Spacing can exist for a few reasons,
One, when teeth are missing
Two, if teeth are too small for a wide jaw
Or lastly, if certain habits have lead to teeth being spaced out.
Spacing can cause several problems,
it acts as a food trap and over time, bone and gums can recede.
The most common type of spacing problem is called a diastema, that’s when space exist between the two front teeth.
Next, let’s talk about protrusion.
This is also commonly known as an over bite.
That is when your upper teeth, from a side profile are much further out than your bottom teeth.
The distance is created by the lower jaw not coming as forward as it should.
Or the upper teeth just come too far out.
Timing of treatment is critical.
Especially as a child, we can use appliances to fix the problem and avoid complex surgeries later on.
Have you ever noticed that you can’t see your lower teeth when you smile?
This is known as a deep bite.
What has happened is that the lower teeth have come up so far, that you can’t see them at all when you smile.
In some cases they can come so high up that the patient is biting on the gums.
Deep bites should be treated to avoid long-term gum and bone problems.
This brings us to open bite, the opposite of a deep bite.
In an open bite, the upper and lower teeth don’t line up at all and there is a space between them.
A thumb sucking habit is the most common reason why an open bite exists in children.
In adults, it can be related to the way the jaws have grown.
Depending on the problem your treatment will be different.
Patients with open bites often complain of an inability to chew food properly.
This can lead to nutritional deficiencies and for this reason should be treated as early as detected.
Lastly, let’s talk about cross bites.
There are two types of cross bites – front and back.
In a normal bite what you see is that all the upper teeth are on the outside of the lower teeth, just like this model.
In a cross bite the upper teeth are on the inside of the lower teeth.
So there’s back cross bites and front cross bites.
A front cross bite is also known as an underbite.
When the lower teeth are in front of the upper teeth.
Cross bites should be treated as early as detected.
If left untreated, cross bites can lead to long-term jaw growth problems.