Some amount of wear and tear on teeth is a natural part of life. Using your teeth to chew, grind, and tear at food will gradually start to wear them down over many, many years. But abnormal wear and tear is often due to something else. This is to say that if some of your teeth are more worn down than others, it's likely not your fault, but there is something you can do about it. Here's what.
How Abnormal Wear Starts
Abnormal wear and tear starts usually because a few teeth are receiving more work than the others around them. That is to say that when you chew your food, certain teeth that come together are taking on the brunt of the work while other teeth that might not be aligned properly aren't. This is a common problem for people who have misaligned teeth or jaws.
When your teeth are aligned properly, each tooth on the upper row has a matching tooth that it aligns with on the lower row. These teeth come together to grind food and chew, but if the jaw isn't aligned properly, not all teeth meet up correctly. So, for example, if your left incisors are perfectly aligned but your right upper incisor is out of alignment and doesn't meet the lower incisor, your left incisors are more likely to take the brunt of tearing through the food that you eat.
How Braces Help
Braces are able to correct this problem entirely by changing the alignment of your smile. They can not only move individual teeth around, but with support from your orthodontist, you can also have the alignment of your entire jaw changed to ensure that all of your teeth meet up properly on the upper and lower rows.
Braces are typically able to realign any teeth that are out of alignment with ease. Additional equipment may be necessary to realign your jaw, however. This could include headgear or teeth spacers. Rest assured, though, that adults almost never need to wear this equipment out of the house, so you don't have to worry about feeling embarrassed. And with invisible braces, you can remove the concern for embarrassment entirely.
Braces can fix a problem that many people are born with: misaligned teeth and jaws. It's best to get this treatment as early as you can to reduce the amount of abnormal wear and tear that your teeth go through. So get in touch with an orthodontist today.