Create Room for Bacteria

Your crowded teeth might not leave much room in your mouth, but what they are doing is creating room for bacteria to grow. This is because crowded teeth feature tight spaces that can be difficult—if not impossible—to clean with a toothbrush and some floss. It’s often challenging to clean crowded teeth because of the tight spaces they create in the mouth. When you can’t properly clean between teeth, bacteria feed plaque which can build up and eventually cause tooth decay or gum disease. When you can’t properly clean your teeth, bacteria can grow and cause oral health problems!

Abnormal Tooth Wear

Crowded teeth often come with a bite misalignment, which means that your teeth don’t fit together properly when you close your mouth or chew. If the teeth aren’t fitting together as they should, abnormal wear can happen to your teeth over time. The surfaces of your teeth can be worn down, exposing your dentin, which can lead to sensitive teeth and eventually problems with your tooth’s nerve as well as your gums. You may also be more at risk for grinding your teeth because of crowded or misaligned teeth, which causes excessive pressure and wear on your smile that can be damaging for life. How can you prevent crowded teeth from affecting your smile?

Steps to a Great Smile

Generally dental treatment is needed for your crowded teeth to make space for you to clean, properly chew, and have a beautiful correct bite. Your dental specializes in helping people create their dream smile. Your dream smile is more than just pretty teeth—your jaw and teeth should be entirely functional. Oftentimes people with crowded teeth experience problems speaking or chewing as well as a result of the misaligned bite or teeth.

When your crowded teeth are corrected, your teeth will be easier to clean, therefore allowing you to take control of your dental health and better brush and floss your teeth. This means preventing tooth decay and gum disease in addition to not putting extra stress or pressure on your teeth due to an improper bite. Your teeth will also be more functional for you and provide you with the confidence and functionality of a life with a healthy smile!

If you never got the opportunity to take advantage of care for your crowded teeth, it’s never too late to start. Your teeth last a lifetime, and you can experience a functional, healthy smile by correcting your crowded teeth. Reduce your risk for gum disease and tooth decay due to your crowded teeth—visit your dentist to begin your journey to a healthy smile today!

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Custom for You

When you buy at-home whitening kits for your teeth, these kits were not made with you in mind. They were made with the generic consumer in mind, meaning the trays (or strips) will likely be either too large or too small for your teeth. This could create an improper whitening, leaving some of your teeth looking white and others not-so-white. In addition to this, if you have crowns, veneers, implants, or another form of restorative dentistry, this will need to be evaluated by your dentist before the whitening process, as the at-home kits can impact the appearance of your teeth.

Professional Treatment

Your dentist is able to evaluate your teeth to ensure the whitening process will be successful. This means looking to see if your enamel is in good shape, if you have any prior dental work that should be considered, and make the bleaching agent custom for your teeth. The bleach used will also be stronger than the at-home kits, meaning you’ll get better results in a shorter period of time. At-home kits can take some time to work (at least ten to twenty days or longer in most cases), but a single visit to the dentist can get your teeth white in under two hours. This professional treatment is ideal for those looking to have their teeth whitened for an event such as a wedding. Having this type of professional supervision and treatment is not something that can be replicated with an at-home kit.

It’s Safer

If used correctly, at-home kits pose a few risks, but overuse of these risks can lead to over-bleaching your teeth. Over time, this will wear down your enamel (the hard, protective layer over your teeth), make your teeth more sensitive, and cause permanent damage. The loss of enamel is irreversible; it doesn’t come back. Since the at-home kits were not made to fit your specific teeth, this means there’s more of a chance of gum irritation from the bleach. At-home whitening is even more dangerous if you haven’t been to a dentist in a while—there could be a problem with your mouth such as gum disease or tooth decay that would be irritated by the bleaching. A professional teeth whitening is always safer with your dentist. Don’t trust the “professional” label on the at-home kits to give you your perfect smile—there are risks for gum and tooth damage, as well as uneven whitening.

Professional teeth whitening trumps at-home kits every time. While at-home kits can be safe if used correctly, they’re not custom like a visit to your dentist would be, and they take more time. Visit your dentist for a professional teeth whitening, and be safe with your beautiful smile!

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