Debbie A healthy bite, or occlusion, is a foundation of oral health and is essential for eating, speaking, and smiling. It also protects teeth, gums, and jaw joints.
An ideal bite is defined as one where your top and bottom teeth meet in a comfortable way that distributes bite forces properly. It also promotes harmony in the chewing system, which includes your teeth, gums, jaws, and chewing muscles.
Tooth Wear and Damage
A sound bite creates a symmetrical arch of teeth. It ensures that they are in contact without overlapping or spacing issues.
Misaligned jaws and teeth can cause a variety of oral health problems. These can include crooked teeth, speech impediments, breathing issues, facial changes, and bruxism (teeth grinding).
Patients with bite alignment problems may also experience chronic jaw pain. It can lead to temporomandibular joint disorder or TMD.
The pain often causes a person to avoid eating or talking because it is so painful. It can also result in oral infections and tooth loss, especially in severe cases.
Many people suffer from a bad bite, but there are ways to correct them. The most important thing is to schedule regular dental evaluations with a board certified orthodontist near me, cleanings, and practice good oral hygiene.
Chewing Issues
Bite refers to the alignment of your upper and lower teeth.
A bite that fits correctly is called an ideal bite. Look at your front teeth in a mirror and try to see their alignment.
You have a healthy bite if they appear to be an almost perfect U-shape with no gaps, spaces or overlaps.
Your molars’ pointed ends should fit into the grooves of the molars on the opposite side, and your upper teeth should fit slightly over your lower teeth.
Those whose bites don’t fit correctly may experience various chewing issues.
Incorrect bites can create pressure on the jaw muscles, causing clenching or grinding of the teeth.
This force can cause severe dental and bone damage. It can also lead to tooth decay, gum disease, and other health problems.
Speech Issues
Speech issues such as lisps, slurred speech, and problems pronouncing fricative sounds (t, s, and ch) are sometimes a result of the teeth not aligning correctly. A person can speak well when the tongue, lips and teeth work together to produce sound and speech perfectly.
Ideally, the teeth should fit in a perfect U-shape, with no gaps or spaces between them. The pointed ends of the top teeth should fit between two bottom teeth, and the backs of the upper front teeth should rest gently against the lower ones when you close your mouth.
However, when the teeth do not fit properly, it’s malocclusion. Malocclusion is usually inherited but may also develop from oral habits such as thumb sucking, prolonged pacifier use, or teeth grinding and clenching.
TMJ Disorders
It may not align your bite if you are dealing with jaw pain and other TMJ symptoms. It can make your jaw muscles feel tired and cause your jaw to pop and click when you open your mouth wide or chew.
A misaligned bite can also put more pressure on your teeth every time you bite. It can wear down the tooth enamel and lead to irreversible damage.
We can perform an occlusal adjustment to fix this issue and improve your oral health. It is a relatively simple procedure that can help correct the alignment of your bite, making it less likely that you will suffer from TMJ disorders and other painful conditions. TMJ disorders are complex issues that many factors, including poor posture, can cause, clenching or grinding your teeth, injury, arthritis and disk damage.
