Crooked teeth, misaligned jaws and crowded teeth affect millions of children and adults across the world. Misaligned teeth (malocclusion) can cause a range of difficulties with your oral health. Crooked teeth can cause difficulty brushing and flossing your teeth increasing the risk of tooth decay, gum disease and uneven enamel.

Many people think crooked teeth are purely down to bad luck. However there is a range of factors that your dentists have identified that can cause crooked teeth. Knowing the main reasons can help you prevent your child’s teeth from becoming crooked and help them to receive orthodontic treatment when needed.

1. Genetics

The size of your mouth, jaw bone and teeth will be greatly affected by your genetics. You will have inherited characteristics such as teeth and jaw size.

Too big teeth for jaw size

– You may have a small jaw from your mum and large teeth from your dad. Large teeth will cause overcrowding in a small jaw.

Misalignment of jaw

– Genetics will determine how your top and bottom jaw line up. Common genetic issues include overbites (top teeth overlapping bottom teeth), under bites (bottom teeth sticking out further than the top) and cross bites.

Too many or too few teeth

Additionally, genetics can cause extra teeth or missing teeth. Moreover, extra teeth will overcrowd the jaw, and missing teeth will cause gaps and neighboring teeth to become misaligned.

2. Thumb sucking or Pacifier use

Sucking thumbs, fingers or using pacifiers is a natural way to comfort infants and young toddlers. However continuing to do this after the age of 3 or 4 years will cause issues with the bone growth.

Forward pushing

– Sucking your thumb constantly puts a lot of outward pressure on the back of your top front teeth. This causes the top teeth to push forwards causing a prominent overbite.

Narrow Palate

– Constantly sucking will cause the palate (hard roof of the mouth) to become narrow. A narrow palate will cause less room for your permanent teeth to erupt.

Open bite

– Sucking your thumb often will cause the front top and bottom teeth not to meet when closing your mouth. This causes an open bite.

3. Tongue thrusting

Tongue thrusting is when you push your tongue forwards against your front teeth when swallowing.

Constant pressure

– The tongue is a strong muscle and putting it against your front teeth constantly will push your front teeth outwards.

Stop teeth in correct position

– Tongue thrusting will stop your new permanent teeth moving into the correct vertical position causing open bites.

Tongue tie

– Ankyloglossia (tongue tie) stops the tongue from moving freely. This means the tongue sits lower in the mouth and doesn’t help to widen the top jaw.

4. Chronic mouth breathing

Your breathing can greatly affect your facial bone and teeth. Constant mouth breathing causes significant issues.

Tongue position

– When breathing through your nose your tongue will naturally sit flat against the roof of your mouth. This helps to widen your top jaw. When breathing through your mouth your tongue will sit at the bottom of your mouth causing your top jaw to become narrow and crowded.

Long term mouth breathing

– Long term mouth breathing causes your face to become long and narrow (adenoid facies).

Common causes of airway blockage

– Enlarged tonsils, swollen adenoids, severe seasonal allergies or a deviated nasal septum will often cause children to constantly breathe through their mouth.

5. Premature or delayed loss of primary teeth

Primary teeth help your child to chew their food but also act as a natural space maintainer to help your adult teeth erupt correctly.

Premature loss

– If your child loses one of their primary teeth prematurely due to severe decay or injury neighboring teeth will move into the gap. This will block the adult tooth from erupting so it will erupt sideways.

Delayed loss

– Sometimes a primary tooth won’t fall out on time as the roots won’t dissolve. This will cause the adult tooth to erupt behind, in front or next to the primary tooth.

Space maintainers

– Your dentist can fit small metal space maintainers to keep a gap open if your child has lost a primary tooth prematurely.

6. Facial injury

Physical injury to your face can cause your teeth to become misaligned.

Injury to jaw

– If your child suffers a severe impact, fall or injury whilst playing sport it can cause a fracture to the jaw or damage the embryonic adult teeth underneath your gums.

Luxation

– Injury to your face can cause your teeth to lux ate completely. Even if your dentist fixes the issue the ligaments can have been damaged and cause your teeth to erupt crooked.

Jaw joint fractures

– Injury to the TMJ can cause issues with your jaw growing correctly. This will cause asymmetrical faces and severe bite issues.

7. Poor oral hygiene

Poor oral hygiene can cause your teeth to become loose.

Periodontitis

– Severe gum disease (periodontitis) will cause damage to the bone and ligaments that your teeth sit in. This will cause your teeth to become unstable as the bone isn’t strong.

Bite issues

– As your bone becomes weaker from periodontitis the force from chewing will cause your teeth to become loose. This will cause gaps, fan tilting and crooked teeth.

Tooth loss

– If a tooth is lost due to severe decay or gum disease a large gap will be left. As a result, neighboring teeth will naturally tilt and fall into the gap, causing damage to your bite.

8. Poor diet

Your diet can cause issues with your jaw and teeth.

Not chewing hard foods

– Studies have shown our ancestors had wider jaws and straight teeth as they ate hard unprocessed foods. Modern diets mean we eat softer foods so our jaw bone doesn’t get enough stress to fully develop.

Poor nutrition

– Eating a diet low in essential nutrients such as vitamin D, calcium and vitamin K2 will mean your jaw won’t develop properly during key development phases.

Too much sugar

– Eating sugary foods will cause rapid tooth decay. This can cause premature loss of primary teeth.

9. Aging

Even if your teeth were perfect as a child or you had braces as a teen your teeth will naturally shift.

Mesial drift

– Your teeth have a natural tendency to drift forwards over the years. This causes your bottom front teeth to become crowded.

Bone loss

– As we get older our jaw bone will naturally become slightly thinner. This means there will be less resistance to small pressures and your teeth will shift.

Muscle changes

– As we age our lips and cheek muscles tighten. This puts constant pressure on our front teeth.

Top Tips to Prevent Crooked Teeth

  • Take your child for an initial orthodontic check up at around 7 years old. This will help identify any jaw issues early.

  • Help your child stop thumb sucking or pacifier use before their permanent front teeth start to erupt.

  • If your child is mouth breathing chronically see an ENT to help clear your nasal passages.

  • Brush and floss your teeth thoroughly everyday to prevent gum disease.

  • Wear a bespoke mouth guard during sport to protect your face and jaw.

  • If your child loses a primary tooth prematurely due to injury or decay fit space maintainers.

  • Wear your orthodontic retainers as prescribed every night to prevent natural drifting.

FAQs

Can crooked teeth straighten themselves?

Crooked teeth rarely straighten themselves. As children grow their permanent teeth will be larger than their primary teeth. This means there will be less room in their jaw. Taking your child to see an orthodontist early will help guide their jaws to give enough room for their teeth.

Is it possible to fix crooked teeth as an adult?

You can always fix your crooked teeth as an adult. Whilst your jaw bone won’t grow your teeth will still move with gentle pressure. Modern orthodontics such as clear aligners, ceramic braces and traditional braces can help fix your adult teeth.

Why does mouth breathing cause crooked teeth?

When breathing through your mouth your tongue will sit at the bottom of your mouth. This means your tongue isn’t holding your upper arch in place. This causes your upper jaw to become narrow and high arched. This means there won’t be enough room for your adult teeth causing severe crowding.

Why are my bottom front teeth becoming crooked?

Your bottom front teeth will become crowded over time due to mesial drift. As we age our jaw bone will change and our teeth will naturally shift due to chewing and tightening of our lips.