I know for some of us who don’t have naturally straight adult teeth that the way they grew in pre-treatment is technically *our* “natural”, but why do they still want to move back even if the original position was excessively spaced or crowded? Wouldn’t the ortho treatment make the teeth more “comfortable”, for lack of a better term?
In: Biology
One of the current theories about our jaws is that our jaws are significantly under developed due to our diet.
If you look at ancient skulls, and protohumans the jaws are much more pronounced. This is because we spent much more of our days chewing tougher foods so our jaws and muscles developed to be much larger than today.
So in that sense modern humans have evolved like a Persian cat or a bulldog with a flat and deformed face.
Despite having small jaws our teeth are still programmed to grow as if our mouths were much wider so they come out crooked because there isn’t enough space for them.
That’s why in orthodontics they often remove teeth to make more space. Our jaws just aren’t big enough to support all those teeth.
This theory also helps to explain a lot of chronic breathing and respiratory problems like Sleep Apnea. Our throats and sinuses are too small because our jaws don’t develop properly. That and orthodontics might be making the problem worse by forcing our teeth and palate up and back into our mouths while our bodies are still growing.
If this theory proves to be correct then orthodontics are taking the wrong approach, fixing a symptom (crooked teeth) rather than the underlying problem (too small a jaw and palate).
ISTM it wouldn’t make them more comfortable since you’re moving them to a non-natural position. If you’re wearing braces, it’s likely because *you* want your teeth to look straighter (ignoring problems with hygiene, speech etc). They grew into that position because that’s where your body naturally guided them.
Also, when you get your braces off, it really is important to wear your retainer for as long as possible. At least a year or two or until you lose it and leave that lower bondwire on for a few years. It takes a while for everything to heal.
This is difficult to explain in terms a five year old would understand but to give a brief summary
1) Your teeth aren’t directly anchored into bone but instead the root is tethered by millions of little fibers (PDL) which makes them easy to move. By contrast, a dental implant which is directly anchored into the bone will not move
2) Your bone, in general is constantly remodeling throughout your life. Osteoblasts build bone, osteoclasts resorb bone and this process is in continual flux depending on a variety of stimuli that naturally occur
3) Given that your teeth in particular aren’t directly attached to the bone and the fact that the bone in the top (maxilla) and bottom (mandibular) parts of your jaw is continually moving – the effects you notice from your teeth shifting are much more pronounced
That’s a very surface level overview without getting into signaling pathways, traumatic stenosis, etc.
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