Why is it necessary to have braces on my front teeth when I only need my back ones corrected?

Question

I have good front teeth but my ortho dosen't explain why i still need braces all of the way round when only the back teeth are crooked

Answer 1

they have to tighten ur front teeth so the back teeth can have space to move otherwise the whole process wont work..

Answer 2

Because it is important for the teeth to be aligned an when you only have you're back teeth bracketed then you run the risk of not having them aligned.

Answer 3

Hi,

There are mainly two reasons for that :

1. Your front teeth are fine. Therefore, the back teeth are being moved in relation to the front teeth.

Think about "tug-of-war". When you pull the rope, you fix your legs on the ground and then apply the pulling force on the rope to pull the opponents to your side.

Similarly, the front teeth will act as the stationary anchorage point. The braces (the wires and bands, if needed along with the brackets) will rest on the good front teeth and pull the rest of the crooked teeth into position.

If you were to get the braces only on the crooked teeth, you would see minor movement in a localized area only and NOT the whole crooked segment would get re-aligned to blend in with the front teeth.

2. All teeth also have a tendency for continuous shifting, even if it is by a fraction of a millimeter a day. Therefore, you don't want the good front teeth to keep on shifting while the back crooked teeth are being manipulated with force.

So, the whole apparatus basically ensures the movement of the back teeth and at the same time the maintenance of the constant position of the front teeth.

[ For the same reason you need to get retainers after the completion of the orthodontic treatment. Otherwise, your teeth will shift back to the crooked position.]

Hope this explained it well for you.

You are spending so much time, money and energy on getting the orthodontic treatment. Might as well get it done right !!

Don't forget to maintain excellent oral hygiene. Otherwise, you'll have straight teeth with holes in them.

All the best :)