teeth are badly aligned from thumb sucking

Q. Hi Dr Caplan, I’m just looking for a starting point really. I’ve not seen a dentist for many years sadly over 15! I know my fault. The problem is my front teeth are very poorly aligned, I used to suck my thumb and having the family sausage sized digits have ended up with no smile. The teeth are there but pushed forward a lot. My question is this how I would go about correcting the problem. From chats with people down the pub, I’m told braces would be the answer and as I pushed the teeth forward it should be relatively easy to push them back again! The teeth are in reasonable condition my gums have probably receding, I sued to smoke. So if you advise us what I should do next that would be great. Many thanks for your time. Kind regards

A. Orthodontics is probably the best course of action. The first thing will be to find a dentist who can assess the health of your mouth - gum disease and tooth decay would need to be treated before you proceed with any orthodontics.  Your dentist will be able to advise you whether Inman, Invisalign or fixed orthodontics is the best route forward.

Dr Julian Caplan
Aviva Cosmetic Dentistry
Director on the board of the British Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry
www.avivacosmeticdentistry.co.uk
101 St. Peters Street
St. Albans Hertfordshire
AL1 3EN

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Tags: orthodontic treatment, orthodontics

This post was published on Thursday, August 14th, 2008 at 10:59 amand is filed under Dr Caplan's Answers, Experts Answers, Q. Orthodontics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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