Understanding Dental Pain and Bacterial Infections

Posted on: 7 October 2015

Bite issues such as underbites, overbites, and crowding can occur due to the improper eruption of teeth and/or the misaligned development of jawbone. Bite problems can weaken the cosmetic appearance of your smile, and you might experience physical symptoms such as difficulty chewing or holding your mouth closed comfortably.

Cosmetic dentists have designed different methods for treating each type of bite problem. But what if you have two bite issues concurrently such as an overbite and crowding?

Here are some potential treatments your dentist might use to straighten out your bite and your smile.

Orthodontic Treatment

The front upper teeth simply leaning out further than natural so that the lower teeth look recessed by comparison can be the root cause of an overbite. The development of this improper dental layout can in turn cause neighboring teeth to erupt too close together so that some teeth end up shifting in front of their neighbors. This is called crowding.

A combination of a tooth-based overbite and crowding can often be completely corrected with orthodontics. Your orthodontist might need to remove a tooth if the crowding has pushed one too far out of alignment to move back without disrupting the other teeth. The braces can then be applied and checked periodically to ensure that both the overbite and the crowded teeth are moving as desired. 

Jawbone Surgery

The upper jaw jutting out further than the lower jaw can be the sole cause of overbites. Braces cannot fix problems with the jawbone so your dentist will likely recommend jaw surgery.

During jaw surgery, the dentist will remove sections on each side of the upper jaw that open up room for the remaining jaw to move. The dentist will then slide the overbite area of the jaw back and use medical appliances to fasten the jawbone in place. The gums are stitched closed and eventually the two sections of bone will fuse together for a solid jawline.

But what about the crowding problem? Jawbone surgery cannot fix the crowding so you will likely still need to undergo orthodontics to fix that problem.

Dental Extraction and Implants

Do you have severe damage in your front teeth and the worst of the crowded teeth? Your dentist might decide it is better to simply extract the teeth and replace the teeth with a stable replacement such as dental implants.

Dental implants look like natural teeth and even have a root that goes into the jawbone like a real tooth root. The implant root, however, is made of metal and slides into a drilled hole where an eventual bone fusion will hold it tightly in place. The dentist can then affix an artificial tooth to the top of the root.

Implants offer a great deal of stability due to the bone support and can create a new front section of teeth in a previously unhealthy mouth.

For more information, contact Alaska Dental Arts or a similar location.