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When teeth are properly aligned, they can create more than just a beautiful smile; well-positioned teeth are essential for oral health and help ensure your mouth can function properly. Any signs of tooth movement are a potential cause for concern, and it’s always best to come and see us as soon as possible. We can check your oral health and identify why your teeth have begun to move before creating a custom treatment plan to help stabilise and straighten them.

What Happens When Teeth Shift Position?

When teeth are out of place, it can affect your bite, so it is trickier to chew food properly. It can significantly affect oral health because misaligned teeth are harder to keep clean. It can also affect your jaw joints, called temporomandibular joints, causing temporomandibular joint disorder or TMJ. TMJ can be painful, causing your jaw joints to become inflamed, and the pain can even spread to your neck and shoulders or may cause chronic headaches.

Read on to discover why teeth can shift position.

Ageing

Teeth can shift position as a natural part of ageing, especially as the ligaments and bone surrounding your teeth can change and become weaker, causing teeth to loosen. Some people have an orthodontic relapse after wearing braces during childhood. As they age, teeth can try to shift back to their original places, especially if retainers aren’t used correctly.

One option for straightening teeth is to use Invisalign, an adult-oriented braces system that can help realign crooked teeth creating a healthy, attractive smile.

Teeth Grinding and Clenching

Bruxism or teeth grinding and clenching places teeth under substantial pressure, wearing them down and causing them to become chipped and cracked and eventually loosening teeth. In the worst case, teeth can even fall out, causing an unbalanced bite.

If you have noticed you wake up with a sore, aching jaw or that your teeth have started to look worn and chipped, we can assess your dental health and, if necessary, provide a custom-made night guard. The device fits over your teeth, preventing you from clenching and grinding, protecting your teeth.

Tooth Loss

Your teeth are designed to work together, so even losing a single tooth can increase your risk of dental problems. The remaining teeth will start to shift towards the empty space, affecting your bite and the stability of these teeth, and tooth loss can cause your jawbone to start deteriorating.

When you lose even a single tooth, we will want to discuss ways to replace it. One option is to use the latest dental implants that help protect your jawbone and help prevent unwanted tooth movements.

Gum Disease

Gum disease is a bacterial infection that is entirely preventable but which, without treatment, can cause tooth loss. It destroys the structures around your teeth so they loosen and can fall out.

Ensuring you visit us regularly for checkups and cleanings and maintain a good oral care routine at home will prevent this common disease.

You want everything to be perfect on your wedding day, including your teeth. It’s the one day you are likely to be photographed multiple times for posterity, so it’s only natural that you want your pearly whites to look their best. If you are looking forward to your wedding day soon, there are many things you can do to ensure you have a beautiful, healthy smile to celebrate your day and the beginning of your married life.

Book a Consultation

The first stage is booking a consultation before the big day, preferably as soon as possible. While some treatments are relatively quick to complete, others can take longer, and the last thing you want to do is to have to rush your treatment or compromise on your choice of options.

Book a Dental Cleaning before Whitening

A teeth whitening treatment is likely at the top of most brides’ dental wish list, but you will get better results if your teeth are perfectly clean before this procedure. Beautiful teeth will enable the whitening products to penetrate your teeth more easily and lift deep-seated stains.

Don’t Leave Teeth Whitening to the Last Minute

Because teeth whitening is such a quick treatment, many brides make the mistake of leaving it right to the last moment. It is far better to whiten your teeth at least a couple of weeks beforehand, especially because teeth whitening may make your teeth feel more sensitive for a few days afterwards.

Watch Your Diet to Maintain Your White Smile

Avoid highly coloured foods and drinks for the first few days after whitening your teeth until they settle down. Additionally, try to follow a healthy diet, like crunching on fresh fruits and veggies, as these contain lots of fibre that has a slight scrubbing action on teeth. Avoid foods that can stain your teeth like red wine, balsamic vinegar, tea and coffee or barbecue sauce.

Choose the Right Toothpaste

Choose good quality fluoride toothpaste to help protect your pearly whites. If you have sensitive teeth, choose a brand that will help reduce sensitivity, especially if you want to whiten your teeth comfortably.

Choose the Right Mouthwash

If you like to use mouthwash, choose a brand that is alcohol-free and preferably antimicrobial. It will help protect your oral health, giving your mouth clean and fresh.

Follow a Good Oral Care Routine, even if You are Busy

It takes less than 10 minutes a day to care for your mouth properly and will ensure you have a healthy smile and beautifully fresh breath to celebrate your day confidently.

Use a Straw

Use a reusable or paper straw for drinking your coffee or tea, as this minimises contact with your teeth, helping to prevent staining.

Enhance Your Look on the Day

Simple tricks can ensure your smile looks its best. Try to avoid gold jewellery that can bring out yellowish tones in teeth, and choose a red lipstick to contrast beautifully with your pearly whites. A smear of petroleum jelly wiped over any cracks or stains on your teeth will help mask their appearance in photos.

Many people suffer from seasonal allergies, but did you realise these can affect oral health? If you have allergies, let us know during your next dental checkup so we can discuss the possible impact on your oral health and how best to reduce this risk. When someone has seasonal allergies, we can adjust our recommended preventative dental care plan to help keep teeth and gums in great shape throughout allergy season.

Seasonal allergies can affect dental health in several different ways. An allergy triggers an immune response resulting in extra mucus production, which can cause tooth pain, dry mouth and bad breath.

Painful Teeth

Your sinuses are just above your upper teeth, on either side of your nose and should normally be filled with air. When you have a stuffy nose caused by allergies, your sinuses can become filled with mucus triggered by allergens. As the sinuses fill with mucus, they can place pressure on your tooth roots. The pressure can cause tooth sensitivity, or your teeth may feel painful.

Usually, taking antihistamines can help reduce sinus pressure, eliminating tooth pain. However, if your teeth continue to feel painful, please come and see us as soon as you can. Any form of dental pain is often an indication that something is wrong, and the sooner we can diagnose and treat any issues, the more quickly we can get rid of dental pain.

Dry Mouth

Seasonal allergies can frequently cause dry mouth, not least because it is easier to breathe through your mouth when you have a blocked nose. However, breathing through your mouth can soon cause it to become dry and uncomfortable, and a lack of saliva can increase the risk of dental problems, including tooth decay and gum disease. The problem can be worsened by taking antihistamines, as dry mouth is frequently a side effect of these medications.

Various strategies can help to increase saliva production, such as frequently sipping on water, so you remain well hydrated and chewing sugar-free gum to stimulate saliva production. Sucking on sugar-free sweets can have a similar effect. Try to avoid foods and drinks that can make your mouth drier such as alcohol and caffeinated beverages, or anything very salty and spicy.

We can prescribe a saliva substitute if needed and give advice about how to care for your mouth during allergy season, for example, having your teeth cleaned professionally more frequently to remove harmful bacteria that could otherwise increase the risk of gum disease and tooth decay. Fluoridated dental products such as toothpaste and mouthwash will help protect your dental health.

Bad Breath

Saliva helps to keep your mouth fresh and clean, so if you cannot produce enough saliva and begin to breathe through your mouth, you may find you develop bad breath. Some cases of bad breath are also caused by postnasal drip at the back of the throat. One way to help freshen your breath is to gargle using a warm salt water rinse that will help to fight and kill odour-causing bacteria.