Malocclusion

Check out our most commonly asked questions

What is Malocclusion?

A malocclusion is a misalignment of teeth and/or incorrect relation between the teeth of the two dental arches. The upper arch is called the maxilla and the lower is called the mandible.

What causes malocclusion?

Malocclusion or bite problems originate from a number of causes, most of which are inherited while the rest are behavioral. Habits like thumb sucking, abnormal swallowing, tongue thrusting, lip sucking etc are some of the causes which, when left unchecked and not corrected at the initial stages can cause teeth and jaws (in severe cases) to be abnormally formed or misrelated with each other.

Is it necessary to correct malocclusion by orthodontic treatment?

Malocclusion needs to be addressed when these variations start causing problems like affecting ones speech, interfering while chewing or swallowing etc. Maloccluding teeth can also be a source of continual embarrassment and in quite a few cases affect the very personality of the person by causing mild to severe psychological disturbance. Most often severely maloccluding teeth tend to decay faster than aligned teeth because keeping misaligned teeth clean would be more difficult. In such cases by correcting the maloccluding teeth not only the life of the teeth can be increased and the teeth made strong but the persons self esteem and confidence can be built as well.

How does one recognize whether he/she needs treatment?

Does your smile affect your self-esteem? Do you wish that you could confidently open your mouth in front of people and smile? Does your mouth smell bad because of your irregular teeth? Do you wish you could chew and swallow properly?

If your answers to any of these are yes then you probably need treatment to correct your malocclusion. Take a look at the photographs given below to decide how your smile looks.

Are your teeth crowded?

Apart from giving a bad appearance crowded teeth are more difficult to keep clean

Do you have a deep bite?

Here the upper teeth cover most part of the lower teeth

Do you have an open bite?

Here the tongue sticks out between the front lower and upper teeth even when the molars are together

Are your upper teeth protruding?

This type of excessive protrusion of the upper front teeth is the most common problem in orthodontics

Do your mid lines coincide?

When midlines don’t coincide the most probable cause could be teeth that are adrift or the lower jaw shifting which usually results in an improper bite

Do your mid lines coincide?

Here the upper teeth fit within the arch of the lower teeth.

Do you have an under bite?

Here the upper teeth fit within the arch of the lower teeth