The Causes Of An Underbite

By Your Health Magazine

Your Health Magazine

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The Causes Of An Underbite

Nature isn’t perfect, and it doesn’t always give us the perfect bodies we want to have, including our teeth. Sometimes our teeth are a bit off from what is collectively called normal, which can cause us to feel self-conscious, even to the point where we make it a personal policy to never smile with our mouths open!

One of the most common dental maladjustments that people face is underbite teeth, a condition in which the bottom teeth overlap the top teeth. A jaw that is considered to be properly aligned has the top teeth slightly overlapping the bottom. While a slight underbite is hardly noticeable, and several popular movie stars like Reese Witherspoon and Woody Harrelson have them and it causes them no problems at all, there are some cases in which the lower jaw extends outward far enough that it becomes uncomfortable and unattractive, a condition known as prognathism.

While some people are born with the condition, it can also result from several bad habits during childhood! The following are some of the underlying habits that can cause a child to form an underbite:

Overuse Of Pacifiers – While pacifiers can help calm a baby, allowing a child to use one until the age of 3 can result in an underbite.

Tongue Pushing – Pushing the teeth out with the tongue is a nervous habit some small children develop. Try to prevent it by addressing the root cause, anxiety.

Sucking The Thumb – Yes, your mother told you not to do it, and this was why! Thought to be the number one cause of developing an underbite in childhood.

Milk Bottle Feeding – While bottle feeding a baby is often necessary, doing so beyond the infant years can lead to an overbite.

The following are the two most common other ways in which an overbite can develop:

Injury – Undergoing a severe facial injury, for example in a car accident, can do permanent damage to a person’s jawbones. Surgery can help repair broken jaws, but they have a tendency to not heal properly, resulting in the development of an underbite.

Genetics – This is when nature demonstrates that it is less than fair and perfect. Your genetics determine the shape of your jaw and teeth, so if your mother or father had an underbite there is a high chance that you will, too, they are very commonly hereditary.

Highly pronounced underbites can have negative health effects as well as marring one’s appearance. Some of those include:

Mouth Breathing – We are meant to breathe properly through our nose, which has mechanisms like tiny hairs that protect us from dust and disease, so breathing through one’s mouth can be hazardous, as well as unattractive to onlookers.

Halitosis – Also known as chronic bad breath. The underbite contributes to the growth of bacteria in your mouth which build up and cause bad breath.

So, what can be done to correct an underbite? According to the dental health experts at Beseenhubit’s best to treat one as early as possible, especially in the case of children whose mouths are more malleable. If you are suffering from an underbite be sure to visit a dental healthcare provider!