Does the malocclusion (bite problems) effect your daily life?

The malocclusion is not considered as a disease but as the bite condition which is differ from the usual bite in more or less. Therefore the malocclusion is not necessary to be cured by every single case. The result of malocclusion may effect not only your oral health which may cause tooth caries, gingivitis, periodontal diseases but also general health such as the effect to your chewing system, to your jaw. In addition, the malocclusion also effects your mental health which creates the non confident condition in order to participate in the society.

We may divide the malocclusion patients based on their treatments in the 3 categories as follows:

1. the group who must be cured necessarily.
2. the group who should be cured.
3. the group who want to be cured for beauty purposes.

The group who must be cured necessarily

The patients have the malocclusion as follows:

• The abnormal facial structure.
• The children who are cured by installing braces.
• The adult who are cured by installing braces along with surgery.
• The Underbite: the lower frontal teeth cover the upper frontal teeth. It may be only 1 tooth or many teeth which stand forward. If it is not cured, it will make your jaw growed in disorder such as the upper jaw is limited to grow as usual while the lower jaw is growing. It will make your facial structure dented and may cause the defect at the joint of your jaw.
• The Overbite: the upper frontal teeth cover the lower frontal teeth more than usual. If it is not cured, the lower jaw will grow less than usual and will harm the ceiling gum of the upper frontal teeth due to the collisions of the lower frontal teeth.
• The Openbite: both of the upper frontal teeth and the lower frontal teeth open separately while biting. If it is not cured, it may create unclear pronunciation, abnormal swollowing and the vertical facial development more than usual.
• The abnormal habit: The finger sucking is normal habit from the need of children’s body. The finger sucking may release any stress, fatigue, hunger,uncomfortableness. The habit will finally disappear when the children go to school or get to 3-4 years old. If this habit does not disappear, it may cause the openbite which may make the upper frontal teeth stand forward and cause abnormal swollen etc. If the abnormal symptoms is not severe and your children can stop finger sucking faster, the symptoms will finally disappear by itself. The effort to stop children from finger sucking may draw their attention to something else such as using their hands to pick toys instead of putting finger in their mouth. We should not complain, yell, scroll or embarrass our children. If they are old enough to understand the reason, you should talk to them frankly, make them want to stop such bad habit by themselves. In case of forgetting to put fingers in their mouth while they are sleepy or about to sleep, we suggest to wrap their fingers with plaster tape. If the children can not stop such habit by themselves, please consult with your dentists.
• The biting or lip sucking occur in case of patients who are shy, lack of self confidence, coward. It may cause the defect in connection with the oral organs such as the overbite at the upper frontal teeth, the unorganized lower frontal teeth, the abnormal tense at the chin muscles. To cure such symptoms, you need to explain all defects to the patients and consult with your dentists to further treatments.
• The abnormal swollen and unusual tongue position. While the patients are swallowing, their tongues move between the edge of upper frontal teeth and lower frontal teeth. We have to consider from the size of tongue which may be oversized by neurological diseases and by the tongue position while resting. The abnormal position may cause by the evolution which occurs in the patients who have allergies, blocked nasal cavity, very narrowed upper jaw, the abnormal of facial height. The patients should consult with the dentist to resolve the crossbite frontal teeth, the underbite, the articulation disorders and the over development of facial structure in vertical line.
• The mouth breathe: it may discover when a disruption happens in the respiratory system such as allergy, tonsillitis. The patients always have dry lips, snoring. The damages may be the abnormal height of lower facial structure, openbite, very narrowed upper jaw. The treatments is how to find the reason why the patients still need the mouth breathe or just a habit. You should consult with the dentist for installing the braces.
• The distorted chin, the lower jaw bended from the center of your face due to the abnormal tooth positions. The lose of primary teeth before the proper time will cause the root bone grow lesser than usual and there are movement of the attached teeth into such narrower space. It will reduce space inadequatly for the permanent teeth to grow.

The group who should be cured.

• The crowding tooth: the set up of teeth in the jaw is very disorganized. It should be cured in order to prevent it.
• The gap-toothed: the side of on tooth does not connect with the side of the next tooth. It creates gaps between teeth which make unclear pronunciation. The saliva spit out while speaking, considered as bad manners. The gap-toothed has 2 types: gap-toothed in certain position in jaw and general gap-toothed.
• The overbite: the upper frontal teeth or the lower frontal teeth stand forward more than usual which make the patients have swollen lips or are unable to close both lips completely, considered as bad manners. It is also easily hazardous to teeth and jaw bone in case of accident.

The group who wants to be cured for beauty purposes.

• The patients have minor malocclusions but still want to have perfect teeth or more beautiful face, they come for the orthodontist such as
• The patients have ordinary underbite but the frontal teeth stand forward a little bit. There is no effect to the underbite but the patients still need the orthodontist because their friends complain or lack of confidence. The change of the teeth positions by the orthodontist may make the lip look different and more beautifull
• The patients have minor crowding teeth.
• The patients have ordinary teeth but consider the orthodontist as a fashion and want to do it like their friends. The unnecessary orthodontist may effect their oral organs both teeth and gum. The cleaning process will be more difficult which may accumulate the microorganisms and limestone plus wasting their time and expenses.

Note: This article is for educational purposes only. We suggest you to consult with your doctors or your dentists for any dental problems or questions.
This information supported by Dentist Tanapote Ninmod of Club Smile Clinic.