While clenching your teeth together, the top and bottom front teeth should overlap slightly. The Side: At the side, your teeth should lock easily in together like cogs in a wheel. The top teeth should sit just on the outside of the bottom teeth, so they fit snugly together.
You may not have realized this, but teeth are not meant to touch. It sounds odd, but think about it. They don't touch while you speak, smile or rest. Even when you chew, your teeth only have to be close enough to mash food, not necessarily touch.
Your upper teeth should fit slightly over your lower teeth and the points of your molars should fit the grooves of the opposite molar. If your jaw lines up like this, you most likely have a healthy bite. When you have a healthy bite it improves the function of your teeth, it also balances your teeth.
A posterior (back teeth) open bite happens when a patient's back teeth don't touch when the front teeth are closed. Sometimes an open bite is caused by thumb-sucking or a tongue thrust and can make taking a bite of certain foods like pizza or a chicken wing difficult.
The extent of incisal tooth display at rest is an important esthetic factor in evaluating the outcome of fixed and removable prosthodontic procedures [1]. Accepted prosthodontics guidelines recommend displaying 2–4 mm in the arrangement of upper incisor teeth below the relaxed lip [2].
A helpful mnemonic to remember the timing of primary eruption is the 7+4 rule. At 7 months of age, children should have their first teeth; at 11 months (4 months later), they should have 4 teeth.
A: A narrow smile is when six or fewer teeth show when you smile. It can be caused by the width of your arch, teeth alignment, missing teeth, etc. Generally speaking, there are no medical complications with a narrow smile.
There are several reasons why your teeth do not show when you speak. It could be a problem of erosion, genetics... But the most common is a problem related to the shape or evolution of your jaw. Because of bad habits, your jaw may recede or take on another shape that makes your teeth less visible.
Teeth misalignment is an actual condition, which is also known as malocclusion of teeth. Malocclusion occurs when your teeth do not align when the jaw is closed. This can be due to crooked teeth, underbite or overbite.
Malocclusion or “bad bites” is one of the most common dental problems. When you have malocclusion, your upper and lower teeth don't align when you close your mouth. Malocclusion typically happens when your teeth are crowded — meaning your teeth are too large for your mouth — or are crooked.
If you are contracting your chewing muscles and having your teeth touch, it is often due to doing to try to relieve a stressful situation, just like biting your nails, drinking too much, taking drugs, or overeating.
In an ideal bite, the edges of your top teeth should follow the curve of your bottom lip. When your teeth are clenched together, about 90% of your bottom teeth should be visible. A 'deep bite' occurs when your upper teeth cover too much of your bottom teeth, which can lead to tooth wear and damage.
Lip incompetence is often an indication of nasal obstruction, sleep-disordered breathing, and enlarged tonsils. If the upper dental arch changes (narrow or high), it takes the space of nasal sinuses and inhibits nasal breathing.
What causes bruxism? Oral health specialists often point to too much stress and certain personality types as causes of bruxism. Bruxism often affects people with nervous tension, such as anger, pain, or frustration. It also affects people with aggressive, hurried, or overly competitive tendencies.
If your teeth are misaligned, they likely look crooked, twisted, or incorrectly spaced. You may have speech issues, such as a lisp, or you may experience tooth or jaw pain. Misaligned teeth can also cause an abnormal face shape and make it difficult to close your mouth.
If your teeth have never felt like they fit together well and you are just now mentioning your problem with bite balance, then this is likely the result of something we call a malocclusion. It means that when your smile developed, your top and bottom teeth did not line up as puzzle pieces might.
Treatment for a misaligned jaw may include lost tooth replacement, braces, orthodontic devices like headgear and palatal expanders, and jaw (orthognathic) surgery. For the treatment of mild-to-moderate jaw misalignment and related malocclusion, clear removable aligners may also be a convenient option.
Typically, there are two types of overbites — horizontal and vertical. A horizontal overbite is when the top teeth extend past the bottom teeth, whereas a vertical overbite is when the top teeth overlap the bottom teeth. In a horizontal overbite, the bottom jaw may protrude toward the neck creating the overbite.
In some cases, teeth with straighten slightly over time as the jaw itself grows. However, many teeth that emerge crooked or out of alignment will require the help of an orthodontist to restore them to their proper position.
The rarest smile type is the complex smile, with only an estimated 2% of the population possessing this smile. This smile is rare because it requires three muscle groups to work simultaneously when smiling.
The upper teeth smile line should generally follow the curve of the lower lip. The central teeth should have a balanced width-to-length ratio. The edge of your bottom teeth should be parallel to your lower lip when you smile.
In an ideal smile, 100 percent of your central and lateral upper incisors and your canines should be visible, Hilton says. Usually your upper premolars and part of your first molar should be on display. Men tend to show less of their upper teeth (hence the expression “stiff upper lip”).
PROPER JAW POSTURE
The teeth should not touch ever – except when swallowing. This comes as a big surprise to most people. When not chewing or swallowing, the tip of the tongue should rest gently on the tip and back of the lower incisors.