How Do You Know If You Need Braces?
Have you ever looked at your teeth? I mean really LOOKED at your teeth? Probably not. A lot of people don’t know if their teeth are in the correct position or not because it often doesn’t worry too many people.
But how do you know if you need braces if you never really look at your teeth? Let’s have a look at reasons why people may needs braces.
Disclaimer: We cannot provide professional advice to you and anything mentioned in the articles should be verified by your dentist or orthodontist first since this is just general educational information that cannot apply to every person in every case. If in doubt ask your dentist or orthodontist.
How to know if you need braces or Invisalign?
This is a tricky question which comes down to are you happy with your smile and how you bite.
There are rules dentists and orthodontists follow to determine if you need braces or not which we will list below.
Dentists and orthodontists are taught what is considered as ‘normal’ then after that if anything out of the norm appears we know it can be treated.
We look at something called Andrew’s 6 keys to occlusion to see if everything is normal.
Some of the things that are taken into account if you may need braces are:
How the first molar teeth bite - If they bite too forward then we need braces and if one of the molars bites too far back then we may need to get braces.
In this example we can see the molars are on top of each other well enough so it may not be needed to get braces.
2. How the angle of the tooth looks: this means if your tooth is flared out in front of your mouth or pushed backwards then it’s likely a good idea to visit your dentist or orthodontist to have a consultation for braces because this could mean that you need to get braces.
3. If the tooth is pushed too forwards or backwards at an angle we know that braces might be needed to push it back to it’s correct angle.
We can see this young boy needing braces in the front of his teeth because of how flared forwards and tilted they are.
4. Teeth are rotated and not in line with the rest. It’s important that the teeth should line up with one another. If one tooth is rotated around then it could be a sign that braces are needed. Rotated teeth often cause a lot of other problems due to their positions.
5. Spaces that are seen between teeth and are not baby teeth. Baby teeth usually have spaces in-between called primary spacing which is normal since the adult teeth will close them when coming out but when adult teeth have spaces between them it is not considered to be normal and braces may be needed to close those spaces.
We can see spacing between these permanent teeth that should be closed with braces since the teenager has all her teeth in her mouth.
6. This one is tricky to explain but in simple terms your teeth must line up on their biting surfaces and no tooth must be too above or below the others.
In the end your dentist or orthodontist need to look at if you need orthodontic braces since it’s difficult to know if you need braces by yourself without consulting a professional. Anything that is out of the norm will likely require some sort of orthodontic treatment in the end.