Should I extract teeth to correct my teeth?

Many people who are planning to have their teeth straightened may have faced the same question, that is, whether to extract the tooth. In fact, the tooth to be extracted does not have any health problems, and it is unavoidable to choose to extract the tooth. Is it necessary to extract the tooth for the purpose of straightening teeth? Is there no better alternative? How to avoid such problems?

Image source: Wikipedia

01 Increasing cases of crowded teeth

As food processing becomes more sophisticated, people's reliance on teeth is gradually decreasing. Not only do vegetables and fruits tend to be squeezed into juice before consumption, but even foods such as corn, which are more delicious when chewed, are often turned into drinks on the table. For modern people, food not only brings a sense of fullness, but also a sense of luxury and ritual.

Although life seems to have become much more "advanced" as a result, the health problems that come with it are endless.

From the perspective of dental health, the most prominent problem that overly refined food may cause is insufficient jaw development. This is because the teeth have fewer and fewer opportunities to perform chewing functions, and the physiological stimulation of teeth on jaw development is naturally weaker and weaker.

Therefore, on the one hand, the jawbone cannot be fully developed, resulting in insufficient dental arch length; on the other hand, under normal circumstances, the number of teeth will not decrease significantly (except for wisdom teeth, other cases of missing teeth are rare after all, please refer to the previous article "The Mystery of 'Missing' Teeth" in this magazine"), and the size of teeth is unlikely to decrease. As a result, there is not enough space for teeth to be placed, and it is reasonable that the teeth are crowded.

Because of this, there are more and more cases of crowded teeth in modern people.

02 Orthodontic extraction is mainly to solve the problem of crowded teeth.

The professional term for crowded teeth is dental crowding. In order to clarify the degree of dental crowding for different people and formulate corresponding solutions accordingly, dentists have made a special definition of "crowding degree", that is, crowding degree = the required length of the dental arch (required space, that is, the sum of the widths of each tooth in the dental arch) - the current length of the dental arch (available space, that is, the length of the dental arch arc). The meanings of these two terms sound a bit profound, but you will know the difference when you look at the picture below.

The length of the yellow arc is the existing dental arch length

Therefore, the degree of congestion can be divided into three different levels:

① Grade I, <4 mm;

② Grade II, 4 mm to 8 mm;

③ Grade III, >8 mm.

There are three ways to solve the problem of crowded teeth:

① Increase the length of the dental arch, referred to as arch expansion;

②Reduce the number of teeth, referred to as minus;

③Reduce the volume of the tooth, mainly refers to the width of the crown, also known as diameter reduction.

It goes without saying that arch expansion is difficult (although it can be changed, it is not something that can be done overnight), and diameter reduction can only make limited adjustments to tooth width (reducing tooth width is achieved by grinding away enamel, and grinding away too much will cause serious damage to the teeth, which is not worth the loss). Reducing the number of teeth is the fastest and most effective way. Especially for severe dentition crowding, reduction is almost necessary.

Extracting teeth for correction purposes is often a last resort.

03 Preventing dental crowding starts with self-care

To ensure the normal development of the jaw, parents must take the responsibility of helping their children develop good and reasonable eating habits, especially paying attention to not eating too refined food. Too refined food is not only not conducive to the development of the jaw, but also more likely to stick to the teeth. If it contains relatively high sugar content, it is likely to cause tooth decay.

In addition, during the period of primary dentition or replacement of teeth, we should pay attention to the problem of premature loss of primary teeth or abnormal tooth replacement sequence. The main reason for premature loss of primary teeth is tooth decay, and we should take various measures to prevent it as much as possible. Once tooth decay occurs, we should find it early and treat it early.