Crowded Teeth: Pain, Headaches & Risks

You might be aware that crowded teeth can impact your appearance and blunt the power of your smile. But you may not be aware that overlapping teeth can spark several other problems, including some that could put your health at risk.

Crowded teeth have been associated with:

• Pain, including persistent headaches.
• Other dental health issues, including tooth loss.
• Poor appearance, including the potential for missed employment opportunities.

You can ignore crowded teeth, and many people do. But the longer you leave the problem unaddressed, the more likely it is that you'll face dental health issues that are easy to see and hard to correct.

Both braces and aligners can be used to move crowded teeth. Braces are typically recommended for severe cases, and sometimes, people must have teeth pulled before their brackets and wires are placed.

But clear aligners are less expensive than braces, and most people find that they're easier to wear too. They can work well to correct mild to moderate cases of crowded teeth.

Crowded Teeth & Pain

Our teeth are acutely responsive to pain. When molars and incisors bump against one another, the sensations are almost impossible to ignore.

Each tooth in your mouth can transmit pain signals from:

• Pulp. The blood-filled center of each tooth contains multiple nerves.
• Dentin. The middle layer of teeth is fluid-filled, and feeling there is transmitted to the pulp. Sometimes, that signal is painful.
• Ligaments. Each tooth connects to the jaw with a fibrous ligament, and those tissues are acutely pain sensitive.

You might feel discomfort while chewing, as your teeth grind against one another with your jaw movements. But you may also feel pain while your mouth is closed and your lips put pressure on your teeth.

Pain from your teeth can also move into your jaw. You may grit your teeth together to keep them from touching one another, and in time, your muscles grow sore and weary from the extra work. You may feel this discomfort as a headache.

Studies suggest that we can ignore low-level dental pain while we're thinking about something else. If you're consumed with a difficult project at work, for example, or you're talking to someone you love, you may be able to push the pain sensation away.

But ongoing, nagging pain can have a deep impact on your quality of life. You may never feel completely comfortable, as the pain is always dragging at the back of your mind.

Crowded Teeth & Dental Health

Bones need space to do their critical work. When your mouth is packed tight, and the problem is left to fester for years, you can face a cascade of problems that build upon one another.

It's difficult to clean crowded teeth. Research shows that people with straight, spaced teeth tend to have good oral health, while people with a tightly packed jaw have lower oral health scores. When you can't swish a toothbrush around all the exposed surfaces of your teeth, and you can't push dental floss between the cracks between your teeth, problems begin.

The cascade of dental problems caused by poor oral health typically looks like this:

Every time you look in the mirror, you're reminded that your teeth don't fit together perfectly. You're not the only one that notices that fact.

Your smile is one of the very first things people notice. And often, we make snap judgments about people based on the teeth they show us when they smile.

In studies, people say that those with straight teeth are nearly 50 percent more likely to get a job than someone with a crooked smile. People also say they're less likely to date someone with crooked teeth. They may feel like people with this sort of smile aren't interesting or fun to spend time with.

All of these impressions happen in a split second, and they're very hard to adjust once formed. You may try to win people back to your side with your glittering personality or intellect, but from the moment you open your mouth, they may have already decided what you’re like.

Can You Ignore Crowded Teeth?

Experts say most oral health conditions are preventable. Take care of your teeth, and they're likely to last for a lifetime. But if you don't fix your crooked smile, you may have problems that are much harder to correct.

Teeth worn down by years of grinding together may not have a healthy, protective layer of enamel. Teeth like this will always be vulnerable to attack, and you don't grow more enamel throughout your lifespan.

Longstanding cavities can also impact the integrity of your teeth and jaw. Fixing the problem could mean replacing your teeth with artificial versions, and that can be remarkably expensive.

How Medical Teams Help

Head to a dental professional for help with crooked teeth, and you'll be given three corrective options. The right path for you depends on your dental health, your pocketbook, and your personal preferences.

Dental professionals can fix crooked teeth with:

References

Why Are Teeth So Sensitive to Pain? (January 2020). LiveScience.

Ranking of Dental and Somatic Pain Sensations Among Paediatric Dental Patients. (September 2012). International Journal of Paediatric Dentistry.

Oral Health. (March 2020). World Health Organization.

Oral and Dental Health. (October 2020). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Relationship of Crowded Teeth and Oral Hygiene Among Urban Population in Medan. (2018). IOP Publishing.

First Impressions are Everything: New Study Confirms People With Straight Teeth are Perceived as More Successful, Smarter, and Having More Dates. (April 2012). PR Newswire.

Comparative Time Efficiency of Aligner Therapy and Conventional Edgewise Braces. (2014). The Angle Orthodontist.