What You Should Know About Overbite

Have you noticed that your child speaks with a lisp and grinds his or her teeth a lot? The root cause of the problem might be from what is known as overbite, and the condition must be treated by a dentist because your child can develop numerous other complications if it becomes severe enough. Take a look at the article below to gain more insight about overbite and why it must be treated in a timely manner to prevent serious complications from developing.

The Cause

Overbite can occur when the upper jaw develops misaligned with the bottom jaw. The condition leads to a child developing top teeth that stick out over the bottom ones, which can be slightly or very noticeable. A child can also inherit overbite because it runs in the family. Sometimes the condition develops from thumb sucking or being bottle fed for an unusual amount of time during earlier years. The specific cause of the problem can be different for each individual, as well as how many complications are experienced.

Complications That Can Develop

As your child's jaws continue to develop, he or she can develop other complications besides a lisp and tooth grinding. One of the complications that your child might experience is difficulty chewing food.  An embarrassing complication could be a change in the structure of your child's face, which can lead to low self-esteem about the way he or she looks. Basically, your child's face might begin to look shorter on the bottom and his or her top lip can appear thinner due to teeth pushing against it. If you fail to get overbite corrected, your child might experience serious complications such as damaged tooth enamel or the development of gum disease from not being able to thoroughly clean his or her teeth due to alignment.

Treatment Methods

How your child is treated depends on the severity of his or her overbite and the cause of it. A common treatment method that is used is the installation of orthodontics. However, sometimes surgery is necessary when the jaws are severely misaligned because it is a skeletal problem that can't be corrected with the placement of orthodontics. If overbite has caused your child's teeth to become overcrowded, a dentist might have to extract a few. Get in touch with a pediatric dentist to make an appointment for your child to be examined, diagnosed and treated for overbite.