Over/under bite, fashion or future health problems?!
Question: I'm not talking about really bad bite defects that seriously deform the mouth and teeth..
It seems to me that the correction of these faults(?) are very recent. They used to talk about over and under shot teeth. is this all just a means of finding work for orthodentists.
Is it just a cosmetic thing or is there a real problem. I am almost seventy and have been over shot all my life. It never has caused me any problems and my teeth are still active and working well.
How is it measured? It seems that measurement takes place at the front of the mouth. I feel that as my wisdom teeth don't line up and the other molars don't line up. it should be measured at the back of the mouth. The web doesn't answer these sort of questions.
I wear and welcome the eye correction that I have worn since the start of the NHS.
Answers: I'm not talking about really bad bite defects that seriously deform the mouth and teeth..
It seems to me that the correction of these faults(?) are very recent. They used to talk about over and under shot teeth. is this all just a means of finding work for orthodentists.
Is it just a cosmetic thing or is there a real problem. I am almost seventy and have been over shot all my life. It never has caused me any problems and my teeth are still active and working well.
How is it measured? It seems that measurement takes place at the front of the mouth. I feel that as my wisdom teeth don't line up and the other molars don't line up. it should be measured at the back of the mouth. The web doesn't answer these sort of questions.
I wear and welcome the eye correction that I have worn since the start of the NHS.
the ancient Egyptians have records dating back hundreds of years to have performed orthodontics, it has been found in old texts and on some mummies (not many).
orthodontics therefore is not a new technology but our techniques are.
the miss-alignment of teeth has been proven to cause joint problems and also people can have difficulty in chewing.
other problems that some people have are that one jaw can grow faster than the other, or one jaw will grow further than the other causing pain and eating problems.
in recent years it has taken off for cosmetic reasons also, but many people find that teeth that are not in alignment do not always have problems.
you have to look at the way we eat to discover the uses of teeth being in the correct position to be beneficial.
the front 4 teeth (incisors) are used to cut food, the canines are for ripping the food and the molars are for chewing the food.
understanding this you can then discover that these teeth serve a purpose that if not in align can (but not necessarily) cause problems.
people with underbites (front top teeth positioned behind the lower teeth) will in time find they have problems with their jaws.
the jaw as you know acts like a hinge and if it is over extended or under extended causes wear and tear.
people with overbites do not tend to have the same jaw problems, but do find biting into food more difficult.
an over bite is measured as the distance from the tip of the top teeth to the lower teeth, anything over 3mm is considered as an overbite.
a large overbite can over time cause the back teeth to wear down, whereas an underbite can cause the front teeth to wear down, for people who bite tip to tip, the front teeth will wear down first followed by the back teeth.
with teeth worn down you can then suffer from joint problems too as the hinge of the jaw is over extended.
in recent years it has proven to be beneficial to fix the teeth before they can cause problems, prevention before having to cure. therefore teeth tend to be fixed in teenagers instead of having to fix them with crowns and bridges in their 40s-50s.
measurements are taken in all aspects of the teeth and jaw, but most teens only talk and think about the front teeth. when a dentist and orthodontist look at the mouth they do take into account of all teeth present when considering treatment. all teeth are as important as the next as one will influence the other when you are eating.
orthodontics have been around for the past 40 years for nhs treatment, but a change in dental training and perception of preventative thinking has pushed orthodontics to the forefront of treatment as dentists have been focusing more and more on prevention rather than treatment when its too late.
dentists used to extract more teeth but now you can have root treatments to save a tooth. this type of thinking has lead to orthodontics more than ever, and of course other types of treatments in the dental surgery that may not have been considered when you were a teenager.
hope this answers your question.
Orthodontia has both medical and cosmetic purposes. Crowding of teeth can be unhealthy,for instance. You seem to have done quite well without any orthodontia.
Occlusion is measured between the eye teeth (canines) and the bicuspid (premolar). The over/underjet is measured by the comparison of tooth placement on the vertical plane, measured to be proportional with the ideal occlusion.
Overjets or underjets are not a functional problem unless they are severe and prevent biting and chewing.
Teeth in proper occlusion allow for complete biting and grinding of food and prevent other problems, like traumatic tooth damage from years of teeth banging together improperly.
I don't think correction of a person's bite (occlusion) is a way of finding work for orthodontists. If the bite and vertical relationships are good, but the teeth are a bit crooked, it's up to the patient to decide if a perfect smile is necessary. Ethical orthodontists do nor falsely represent a treatment plan or diagnosis.