Crooked Teeth

When your wisdom teeth are impacted, they can’t emerge through the gums because they often have nowhere to go. At the age your wisdom teeth come in (usually in the latter teenage years, or, around twenty years of age), your other teeth are set in their places and will not move easily. The impacted wisdom teeth can come in at odd angles and disturb the neighboring teeth, namely your second molars. Impacted wisdom teeth can also be responsible for crowding, which can cause crooked teeth. Crooked teeth have more problems than just affecting the aesthetic value of your smile—they can be difficult to brush and floss, therefore missing vital areas where plaque and bacteria can grow, and they can even cause an improper bite, meaning it will affect the way you chew food and could even lead to teeth grinding.

Ruin Orthodontic Work

At the age your wisdom teeth come in, you’ve likely had orthodontic work done, meaning any problems with your teeth have been corrected and your smile looks great. Impacted wisdom teeth are not good news when it comes to your completed orthodontic work! As a result of their impacted nature, the teeth can affect both your upper and lower rows of teeth by pushing on your teeth and making all of your teeth move, therefore ruining your orthodontic work. It’s best to get impacted wisdom teeth removed before they cause too much damage in your mouth, and you may even need more orthodontic work if you let them go for too long. Your orthodontic work likely cost you time, money, and some painful adjustments—don’t let your impacted wisdom teeth ruin all of that!

Problems with Adjacent Teeth

When your impacted wisdom teeth begin to come in, they’ll likely cause problems with your neighboring teeth. As they develop, they’ll create limited space between your second molars and themselves. This creates more room for plaque and bacteria to grow, and can even lead to cavities and tooth decay in that area. Third molars are often located so far back in the mouth that they can be difficult to properly brush in the first place, but having impacted third molars (wisdom teeth) on your second set of molars can create problems. In addition to the movement they’ll create as a result of pushing, you’re more at risk for cavities and other problems back there as your impacted wisdom teeth continue to develop.

Although impacted wisdom teeth can overcrowd your smile, you don’t have to suffer the impact! Your dentist can help determine whether or not your wisdom teeth are impacted and talk with you about treatment. Impacted wisdom teeth often need to be removed to help prevent further damage to your smile, but this is a common procedure that requires minimal healing time.

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Provide Balance

Having a healthy balance of good and bad bacteria will prevent bad bacteria that can cause diseases or tooth decay from taking over, help keep our breath fresh, inhibit plaque growth, and provide a healthy path for our food to begin travel into our digestive tract. Eating well, brushing, and flossing can all promote good bacteria. You can also help promote the good bacteria in your mouth by making sure you get enough probiotics. Eat yogurt, sauerkraut, miso soup, kefir, and soft cheeses. Take a quality supplement when you can’t get these things.

Prevents Oral Diseases

Bad bacteria in our mouths can lead to different dental diseases such as periodontal disease (gum disease) and tooth decay, it’s true. Many people think you need to “get rid of” these bad bacteria so that they won’t colonize in your mouth and cause you health problems. This isn’t true, as good bacteria have many functions in our mouths and can regulate the bad. The average person has as many as 20 billion different bacteria in their mouths. It’s impossible to have a sterile mouth, nor should you want one. These good bacteria can help you maintain excellent oral health and prevent disease!

Aids in Digestion

It’s long been said that a healthy gut is vital for a healthy body, and your digestive process begins with
your mouth! There are good bacteria in your mouth that immediately start breaking down food as soon as you start eating. This is where is becomes more important than ever to eat a healthy diet. Refined sugars can easily upset the balance of good and bad bacteria in your mouth, and therefore in your gut, where the food your friendly bacteria helped digest will travel. Eating healthy foods can promote oral health!

Helps Immune System

In many ways, our mouth is considered our body’s first line of defense. When the balance of good and bad bacteria is damaged, our immune system is weakened as the good bacteria are not there to combat the bad bacteria and help our body stay healthy. The same thing can also happen when you use harsh mouthwashes, such as those that claim to “kill” bacteria or contain alcohol. These mouth rinses kill the good bacteria as well as the bad, and this leaves more room for unregulated bad bacteria to grow, therefore damaging our oral health and our immune system.

Next time you think about all those bacteria in your mouth, don’t think they’re these negative things that you need to get rid of. Remember that good bacteria play a vital role in your oral and physical health, and keep your mouth healthy by promoting their existence with healthy dental practices!

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