The Cause Of Crooked Teeth

A good-looking face is determined by a strong, sturdy chin, developed jaws, high cheekbones, good lips, correct nose size and straight teeth. When a face develops correctly, it follows that the teeth will be straight.

Straight teeth do not create a good-looking face, but a good-looking face will create straight teeth.

Malocclusion refers to a misalignment between the upper and lower teeth (i.e. the way these teeth fit together when biting or chewing). The condition can be described as crowded, crooked or protruding teeth and is also referred to as an “irregular bite”, “crossbite”, “overbite” or “overjet”.
The facial complex is responsible for such functions as eating, swallowing, speaking, aerating the inner ear, filtering incoming air and maintaining an airway. Malocclusion is often associated with jaw joint problems, infection, airway obstruction, sleep apnea, congenital malformation (i.e. malformation of the facial complex) and ENT problems.
A well-proportioned and mechanically sound face is a healthy, functioning face. Intervention at an early age can prevent the development of the problems associated with Malocclusion. Orthotropics treats the causes, not the symptoms. Orthotropics aims to make the face fit the teeth, not the teeth fit the face.

There are five main causes of crooked teeth from our perspective, all resulting in weak jaw muscles, lowered tongue position, and incorrect swallow pattern.

1) Diet and Food Choices of our grand parents, our parents and our children.
Over the last few hundred years modern humans have changed from a hard, nutrient dense diet to a very soft, nutrient depleted diet. Our jaw muscles now have to make far less effort and are much weaker and that we are overfed but undernourished. To understand this read and view the following....

2) Toxins on the Rise combined with Poor ill-advised Nutrition.
A massive rise in allergy’s has lead to periods of nasal obstruction in nearly all infants and young children, who then have to lower their tongue and open their mouths to breathe. Initially this posture is a necessity which then becomes a habit. We are all in this world together but there are things that you can do to minimise toxic exposures.
To undertsand the concerns read here....

3) Sleep Posture- and Incorrect Pillow habits is a major determinant in facial harmony and symmetry and if not assesssed and corrected will result in crooked teeth, crooked faces and crooked bodies.
To understand why we beleive this to be a significant factor and needs to be adressed early and during any periods of growth and for long term stabilisation read here...

4) Tongue Tie (partial ankyloglossia) needs to be assessed and treated as part of the overall treatment strategy.

Tongue tie in the baby can interfere with breasfeeding ,

The lingual frenum is a mucosal fold that connects the bottom of the body of the tongue to the floor of the mouth and to the mandibular bone. As seen in the above photo, when the frenum is thick and very tight and/or its place of insertion limits the mobility of the tongue, it can result in ankyloglossia (from the Greek "ankylos" which means tied and "glossa" which means tongue).
Altered body postures are present in individuals with ankyloglossia due to: tongue anatomically attached to the bone and fascial structures of the head and torsum; muscle synergisms existing between the lingual muscle and muscles of the anteromedian chain of muscles and the hyoid bone -- resulting in a body posture leaning anteriorly with head and shoulders projected forward and body’s center of mass shifted forward with a compensatory cervical or neck positions. ( hyperlordosis/Kyphosis)

Early diagnosis and intervention in Tongue Tie are fundamental for the subsequent functional and physical development of the child and of the adolescent.

5) Incorrect Advice and Learnt patterns.
The change to bottle feeding and or incorrect breast feeding combined with early weening to soft nutrient poor processed foods, has impeded the growth of the midface (and palate) and stops the progression from a suckling swallow to an adult swallow. Anyone with ankyloglossia will have difficulty in swallowing .
The correct Adult swallow is where the tongue is on the roof of the mouth rather than between the teeth, or variations of that. Many adults still suck on their teeth when swallowing which pulls them in and they crowd. A suckling swallow sucks the teeth in further and the narrower the palate (the roof of the mouth) the less space their is for the tongue to rest on it so the more it will go between the teeth in a suckling pattern, creating a vicious cycle.
Different people are affected in different ways and familial links are obvious, however less than 5% of our ancestors had poorly aligned teeth where less than 5% of modern humans have well aligned teeth, so there is a strong environmental component. Children who have week jaw muscles, hang their mouths open with a low tongue posture and suck their teeth inwards every time they swallow, develop longer faces with crowded teeth. This negatively effects the development of the face.

Treatment for any disease should affect the causes and not the symptoms. Orthotropics aims to improve the muscle tone and change the posture during the The Treatment Process, with a brace that is uncomfortable if the wearer drops their mouth, worn full time. The tongue space is more than doubled by expansion which allows a conversion to an adult swallowing pattern with Oral Myology training and assessment for "tongue tie" and its surgical treatment.
In anyone who learns these lessons the effect is permanent and dramatic, since they will have changed.
Orthotropics treats the causes of crooked teeth, not the symptoms.