Anyone with malaligned or irregular teeth, buck teeth, crowded teeth, overlapping teeth, rabbit teeth or ones with gaps in between may require orthodontic treatment.

Why do teeth become irregular ?

There are numerous reasons for malaligned or irregular teeth. These are briefly:

• Small jaw.
• Thumb-sucking.
• Bad lip and tongue habits.
• Other habits like breathing through the mouth, nail biting.
• Incompetent lips.
• Injury/accidents.

Orthodontic Evaluation

Before planning treatment, the Orthodontist examines the teeth, jaws, jaw joints, face and profile and studies how the patient bite and swallows. The dental and medical histories are taken. If the patient is looking for cosmetic changes in his/her smile or face, he/she will be asked about the specific goals for Orthodontic.

Evaluation is done with the help of :

• X-Rays
• Models
• Photographs etc.

Why do some patients have to extract teeth and some not ?

In some cases a patient may need to get some teeth extracted in order to fix the braces. Teeth are only removed after serious consideration. However, if the patient is referred to a qualified orthodontist at a young age and the problem is not severe, then the entire treatment may be carried out without tooth removal. It is critical therefore to visit a dentist at the earliest sign of irregular teeth so that he may refer you to an orthodontist.