Many adults, teenagers, and children will experience some kind of dental issue in their lifetime. Orthodontics specifically addresses concerns with the bony structures of your mouth, most notably your teeth and jaw.
Some of the most common problems faced by patients include the following:
- Crossbite: Crossbite occurs when your upper teeth sit inside your lower teeth, which may result in tooth stratification and a misaligned jaw bite.
- Crowding: When your mouth does not have enough room for your teeth crowding occurs. Although tooth removal may be required to fix this common problem, expansion may also be a sufficient solution.
- Midlines: A dental midline is the line between your two upper front teeth and your two lower front teeth. If these don’t line up, your back bite may not fit and match appropriately, leading to problems with the functioning of your teeth and jaw.
- Openbite: Patients have an openbite when their upper and lower front teeth do not overlap. This common problem can be caused by thumb sucking or continuously thrusting your tongue against your front teeth.
- Overbite: If you have an overbite, your upper front teeth extend out over your lower front teeth, which can result in chewing or biting problems. Some overbites are so severe that the lower front teeth bite into the roof of the mouth.
- Protrusion: For patients with protruding teeth, their upper teeth hang too far forward, causing difficulties in jaw function and affecting their facial aesthetics. Protrusion also occurs when the lower teeth do not expand far enough forward.
- Spacing: Gaps between your teeth are a common problem that may be the result of missing teeth or normal growth and development. For some patients, uneven spacing is simply a cosmetic issue that they want to correct.
- Underbite: When you have an underbite, your lower jaw sticks out, and your lower front teeth sit inside your upper front teeth.
