If your baby’s teeth are growing in crooked, check out this article to know more about crooked baby teeth and the causes.
Crooked teeth are generally the misaligned teeth that occur in people of all age groups. At the end of this article, you would know about the reasons behind the misalignment of teeth and the precautions that you can take at a very young age for your baby’s teeth growing in crooked.
Crooked Teeth
We generally use the word ‘crooked’ to define something that is not in the proper place. Hence, crooked teeth are misaligned teeth due to irregular and inappropriate tongue movements that a child makes unintentionally. In other words, crooked teeth are the teeth that erupt and start growing to overlap, twist, rotate, or angle to other teeth. There are many reasons that can give rise to the teeth being crooked, some of the causes are listed below.
Causes of Crooked Teeth
1. Trauma
If your child has ever been exposed to some facial injury while playing or performing any other physical activity, the teeth might get misaligned. The trauma need not have an intense force but it can still impact the teeth.
2. Malnutrition
Proper diet and nutrition are crucial needs during the early stages of life. This way the body gets enough nutritional elements to facilitate the growth of the child. Malnutrition hinders the normal growth pace of the body and can lead to diseases and issues like crooked teeth.
3. Thumb Sucking
If your child has a habit of sucking his/her thumb while sleeping or sucking on toys, then crooked teeth are likely to arise as the child continues this habit for long.
4. Poor Oral Hygiene
Dentists always advise following strict oral hygiene routines like brushing the teeth twice a day and avoid eating sweets too much. Bad oral hygiene can render the teeth weak and might as well make them crooked and misaligned.
5. Genetics
If crooked teeth are visible in the most initial stages of your child’s development where eating habits and oral hygiene are not the reasons, it might be genetic. Dentists advise pregnant women to maintain good dental hygiene to ensure that the baby grows up with healthy teeth.
6. Thrusting the Tongue
Many babies have a habit of making inappropriate tongue movements which shifts the teeth slightly. These slight movements misalign the teeth, thus making them crooked.
7. Mouth Breathing
Babies are prone to minor diseases like common cold and cough, making them breathe via the mouth. Such activities can cause a shift or misalignment in the teeth.
Precautions
1. Say NO to Thumb Sucking
Refrain your child from sucking their thumb in order to rule out this cause of crooked teeth. Either cover your child’s hand with a mitten so that they don’t get to suck their thumb or apply turmeric on the fingers. When your baby finds that the thumb tastes bitter, they’ll stop sucking eventually. Keep a close check on your child and whenever they start sucking their thumb, try giving them a pacifier or your breasts to suck on.
2. Oral Hygiene
Maintain good oral hygiene of your child to prevent them from developing crooked teeth. Practice brushing the teeth twice every day and eat healthy food with less pH level so that it doesn’t interfere with oral hygiene.
3. Preventive Methods
It is pretty standard for a child to break his teeth during an accident or physical activity. In this case, you can visit a dentist and ask for possible solutions to prevent any adult teeth from growing asymmetrically.
What comes along with crooked teeth?
The issue of crooked teeth never comes alone. It brings along a lot of other things which are harder to cure.
1. The child may experience periodontal issues in which they may face difficulty in cleaning between the teeth. This indirectly leads to the plague.
2. The child might face speech problems as they grow, and the misalignment in the jaw becomes more evident than ever.
3. Many children get an inferiority complex as they feel that others with aligned teeth will make fun of them.
Cure
Observing a baby growing into a child and then into an adult is a beautiful experience. There are ups and downs, out of which one is the issue of crooked teeth. It may be a sign that the baby might face specific problems in the future. It would be the best thing if you were very cautious about the growth of teeth in your child to be symmetrical and aligned. If it is not so, then there is nothing to panic about. The first and foremost thing that you can do is consult a dentist. The dentist will guide you with the correct age to begin the treatment.
What, as per the dentists, is the best time to get braces?
It is said that braces are one of the best solutions if the child has misaligned teeth. Different types of braces like metallic, ceramic, etc., are suitable for different kinds of misalignments in children of varying age groups. It ultimately depends upon the severity of the situation and the reason behind the misalignments. As per the doctors, the best age to get braces is between 8 to 14 years.
The last lines
The growth and development of children are pretty unpredictable for the parents. They come across many changes in the body. You should be strong enough to know that everything will not be as per your expectations. There will be times when the child has to undergo certain painful things for their own good. All you require to do is to stand firm and encourage them to inherit good habits.
