Wednesday, August 3, 2011

HELP! My teeth are becoming buck at 48 yrs old!?

A very strange phenomena is happening to me! For the past few weeks I have this strange feeling/awareness of my teeth/bite. My upper and lower teeth have a strange sensation, like it is moving forward (similar to when I had braces on & the dentist was moving them in place). I noticed that my upper teeth seem to be beginning to plow into my upper lip! It feels like they are becoming buck. My teeth were not buck as a teenager, they were just crooked. 3 of my siblings had severely buck teeth & had teeth pulled. They used a palette expander on me because they told me that if they pulled 4 teeth I would have a pan face in my 50's which would make me look old. He gave me this horrible full mouth rubber exercise retainer which I hated and my teeth moved back somewhat crooked again. Any ideas what my teeth are doing now and why my bite is changing? I very concerned. Could it be due to a medical condition. I don't have dental insurance right now so can't run to the dentist.
--------------------
You did not mention anything about your back teeth. One dental phenomenon that could be causing this is called "posterior bite collapse." Usually this is what happens when you have had some back teeth removed, but not replaced. (I'm not talking about having teeth removed for braces, because that space is then closed.) You can also be grinding so much that you are causing the same thing. Your front teeth are not made to bear the weight of chewing without support of all of your back teeth and they start to "buck out" or flare in the anterior region. It would seem unlikely, but this could also be related to a new tongue habit. In a younger person, we would routinely look for a tongue thrust, but if you never had one, it would seem odd that you started doing this at age 48. The tongue is a MIGHTY force, though, when it comes to moving teeth. Consider any changes in habit that might be significant. If you can not find a dental cause, yes there are medical conditions that lead to expanding bone and the accompanying flaring of the teeth. Search on "acromegaly" and you will find all kinds of information on this hormonal condition that can lead to flaring of the teeth. I think this is the most common underlying condition, but I'm not an expert on this topic.
Source

No comments:

Post a Comment