Addressing Overcrowded Teeth With Orthodontic Treatment [Video Guide]

Overcrowded teeth, also called crowding, occur when the teeth don’t have enough room to erupt properly. As a result, teeth come in crooked, overlapping, or bunched together. Dental crowding is a type of malocclusion, or a bad bite. It can co-occur with other malocclusion issues, like crossbites and overbites. When parents notice crowding in their kids’ smiles, they sometimes hope the issue will resolve on its own. However, in many cases, direct intervention is necessary. Think of it as a rule of thumb: a bad bite when you’re young is typically a bad bite when you’re older.

At Orthodontists Associates of WNY, our doctors offer a wide variety of solutions to address crowding, correct your child’s bite, supporting a healthy, beautiful smile.

Why Overcrowded Teeth Rarely Resolve on Their Own

Some orthodontic issues, such as spacing in young children, may appear to improve as more of their teeth come in. This gives parents the impression that more complex issues, like overcrowded teeth, can also resolve on their own in later years. However, our doctors often see that untreated malocclusions in young patients typically persist into later years. In fact, crowding may worsen over time if left unaddressed.

Untreated crowding and other malocclusions can contribute to pain and discomfort, especially over the course of years. There are many components to the oral system: you have joints, you have jaws, you have the dental component, which is the teeth that sit within the framework, and you have a neuromuscular system that runs all of this. Crowding impacts the rest of the system. One possible consequence of overcrowded teeth is temporomandibular joint disorder, sometimes referred to as TMJ. Sufferers of TMJ disorder might notice jaw pain, headaches, and stiffness, as well as a clicking or popping in the jaw joint.

Achieving a good, balanced occlusion with early intervention will help avoid these symptoms in the long term. When the teeth meet properly and have a functional relationship, it supports long-term oral health.

That’s why we take overcrowded teeth seriously. Our goal is to help you get back to great dental health so you can live your best life. We’re trying to achieve the most stable, most functional relationships between the jaws and teeth to set you up for optimal oral health.

Orthodontic Solutions To Address Crowding

To help us develop your custom treatment plan to address overcrowded teeth, we use CBCT images—a 3D X-ray—to take a closer look at your bite. Then, we develop a treatment plan to correct the malocclusion. We use a variety of devices and techniques to correct overcrowded teeth, such as:

• Braces: Braces treat overcrowding by gradually guiding your teeth into the correct position. They can be made of metal, ceramic, or another material.
• Clear aligners: These are see-through, custom-crafted trays you wear over your teeth and remove before eating. Invisalign® is a popular, FDA-cleared aligner choice.
• Extractions: If your teeth are severely crowded, we may recommend extracting one or more to create more space. This may be a preliminary step for beginning another treatment, such as braces.

Correcting overcrowded teeth may be a multi-step process involving more than one of the above treatment methods. In more advanced cases, you may require dentofacial orthopedic interventions. These are especially successful in children. Dentofacial orthopedic devices include:

• Activators that shift either the upper or lower jaws forward
• Mandibular expanders that gradually widen the mandible (lower jaw)
• Palatal expanders that slowly broaden the maxilla (upper jaw)

These devices work best for children since their oral structures haven’t fully formed. Adults may require surgery to correct serious alignment issues.

Schedule a Free Consultation

Here at Orthodontists Associates of WNY, we know very well that overcrowded teeth often won’t resolve on their own. That’s why we aim to correct orthodontic issues as early and comprehensively as possible. Our practice offers an array of interventions to move the jaws and teeth into the correct position for a healthy relationship between the upper and lower jaws and teeth.

We don’t charge for any consultations until treatment begins, so it costs nothing to learn what your orthodontic intervention will entail. Contact us for a free consultation at one of our 7 locations near you.