4 Ways Your Smile Can Change As You Grow Older

McClellan Orthodontics

Just as with most things in our bodies, your smile does change with age. From the teeth shifting to the enamel wearing down, the appearance and function of your teeth and bite evolve as you get older. The good news is, there are ways to minimize these age-related changes and keep your smile looking its best throughout your life.

Why does your smile change as you age? Some changes are due to natural biological processes, including bone remodeling and the tendency of the teeth to shift towards each other. Other reasons your smile changes with age may include:

1. Bottom Teeth Crowding - As you age, your jaw bone loses density and shrinks. The mismatched size of the jaw bone with teeth can lead to crowding of the bottom front teeth and this crowding can worsen with age. Crowding can also occur because other issues such as mouth breathing, gum disease, and even facial trauma.

2. Overlapping Teeth - As you get older and the jawbone changes, many people experience what’s known as physiologic mesial drift. It’s a slow, natural shifting of the teeth towards the front of your dental arch. As the teeth move towards the midline, they can overlap. It can be worsened by missing teeth, gum disease, bruxism and decay.

3. Collapsing Teeth - If you have gaps in your teeth, missing teeth that weren’t replaced or severe wear of the enamel, the teeth around the spaces can collapse inwardly. This is because the teeth try to fill in the empty spaces. As the teeth tilt or shift into the gaps, it will impact the appearance of your smile, as well as your bite. Missing teeth may also change your face shape.

4. Bad Bite - Misalignment of the teeth or jaw, known as malocclusion, doesn’t sort itself out. In many cases, if issues like crowding, spacing or an excessive overbite, underbite, open bite or crossbite aren’t treated, they will get worse as you get older. After years of living with a bad bite, you may also be dealing with the consequences of misalignment, such as tooth decay, gum disease, excessive wear of the enamel. These issues will create further changes to your smile.

While these changes may be completely normal, that doesn’t mean you just have to live with them. Whether you’re eight or 80, the biological process of orthodontic treatment is the same. Age does not keep teeth from moving. Check out our website to learn more about the options we have for adult orthodontics and then give our Kenilworth, IL office a call to schedule your initial exam.