Are your front teeth bigger than the rest of the teeth? This overjet is known as Buck Teeth.

Though, some people let their teeth be. others may prefer to treat this malocclusion.

These protruding front teeth exist after your baby teeth fell off and permanent adult teeth came in.

Certain habits may lead to this overjet such as thumb sucking when your permanent teeth are fairly new.

However, there are treatments available to align your teeth.

If you have an overjet, this article is for you.

Find out what causes your front teeth to protrude and how can you treat them, in this article.

child with buck teeth

 

What is Buck Teeth?

It is basically misalignment and a form of malocclusion.

Your upper front teeth overlap with your lower teeth.

However, these are not overbite teeth rather an overjet.

In an overbite, the teeth overlap with the lower teeth vertically.

However, in an overjet, they overlap horizontally.

Hence, that means they also protrude while in an overbite they just go straight downwards.

The extent of protruding may differ.

They could either have a slight overlap with the lateral incisors or they might protrude enough to make it difficult to close the mouth.

Though generally, they protrude over 2mm as the upper and lower jaw do not align.

If you cannot close your mouth then this will affect your appearance as well as your quality of life.

Moreover, it also has an impact on your oral health as it can lead to other damages to your teeth and gums.

It can also impact your tongue as you could cause it injury by biting it accidentally.

Hence, it isn’t a proper bite as these are not straight teeth.

Therefore, your speech, appearance and oral health are all affected.

But how do you get it?

These teeth misalign from the moment your baby teeth grow into permanent ones.

Let’s find out the several causes that can lead to it.

child sucking thumb

 

Causes of Buck Teeth

  • Hereditary 

Your teeth and jaw alignment usually go down from your parents and other family members to your generations.

Hence, if your parents have a misaligned jaw and protruding teeth, then you are likely to have it too.

If your child shows signs of protruding, then you should consult a dentist soon.

Your child may also have an uneven jaw since birth. This is usually because the parents have the same condition.

  • Children Sucking Thumb 

Thumb sucking is known as a non-nutritive sucking behavior.

It doesn’t provide anything to the child except some consolation.

Unlike nursing and breastfeeding, they do not gain any nutrition from it.

Hence, it is a bad habit that parents should try to stop.

If your child regularly sucks their thumb then it will affect the alignment of the palate, teeth and mouth.

Moreover, if they keep doing it after the age of 3 and also when their permanent teeth start appearing, then the action of sucking exerts pressure on the teeth.

The thumb and the action create pressure which means that the emerging permanent teeth will come at a protruding angle.

  • Tongue Thrusting

The tongue pushes forward in the mouth.

This condition does happen occasionally and that does not cause much harm to the teeth.

However, if it happens regularly then a tongue thrust can cause an open bite and overbite.

Tongue thrusting results from tonsils and adenoids in children.

It can also happen if your child does not swallow properly.

Moreover, it can also affect adults.

Some may thrust their tongue while sleeping because of stress.

Hence, this can affect the alignment of your teeth.

baby holding pacifier

 

  • Using a Feeder or Pacifier 

Similar to thumb sucking habit is sucking using a pacifier.

Parents may put their children on a pacifier to calm them down and soothe their teething phase.

However, this too is a non-nutritive sucking behavior.

Though, it can cause more cases of malocclusion than thumb or finger sucking.

Hence, your children should stop using pacifiers after some years.

Similarly, some children continue drinking from a feeder till their old enough to not do so.

Give them milk or water in a glass. Drinking from a feeder will cause their teeth to grow longer than normal.

  • Crowding and Missing Teeth 

If you have a few teeth missing then the remaining teeth adjust and shift their position over time resulting in an overjet.

Also if there is crowding, impacted teeth and less space in your mouth because of that then it will affect the position of your front teeth.

You will see crowding in your teeth when there are a bunch of extra teeth in your mouth or if there are impacted ones.

  • Cysts In The Mouth

Sores, cysts, tumors and lumps in the upper teeth and jaw can push your teeth forward.

They may continuously swell in the soft tissue and put pressure on your teeth which can grow forward.

Hence it not only changes the position of your upper front teeth but also your alignment of the jaw and the shape of the mouth.

malocclusion altering face

 

What Happens If You Do Not Treat It?

It is understandable that your teeth are a part of your appearance and if you feel confident in them then you can forget about treating them.

However, you cannot deny that it does impact your oral and general health.

If you have an overjet then your mouth does not close properly as well as it affected the lips and teeth.

Hence, this results in speech difficulty.

It may become difficult for you to pronounce the letters F, B, V, M, P and S.

Furthermore, it can also cause harm to your surrounding teeth and gums.

It also alters the shape of your face as your teeth protrude and when you try to close your mouth it makes a pout.

You could also find it difficult to chew properly.

An overjet does not allow you to chew your food properly which further causes problems during digestion.

It also pains to chew food and bite it through your teeth.

Besides that, you can get jaw pain and headaches.

Some other oral conditions may follow such as tweaking of the tooth enamel, teeth grinding, and gingivitis.

You can also get breathing problems associated with protruding.

The teeth themselves do not block your airways but a small jaw that is overcrowded can result in an abnormal small airway.

Hence, your air passage is restricted.

Therefore, it causes breathing problems such as snoring and sleep apnea.

These problems are usually sleep-disordered breathing.

Hence, if you do not treat your overjet, it will certainly affect your health even if you choose to ignore it.

This brings us to…

girl wearing braces to treat buck teeth

 

Buck Teeth Treatment

Children and adults can get different treatment plans for their overjet.

The approach is to push the front teeth back and align both the upper and lower teeth.

However, this does not happen through one single treatment for buck teeth as everyone’s bite and jaw relationship with that is different.

The popular treatments are:

Braces 

One of the treatments for your overjet and teeth correction can be braces followed by teeth retainers.

Teeth braces are of three types, traditional metal wire, lingual braces or ceramic braces.

You can get these braces in your teenage but also as adults.

These metal wires are adjusted so that they slowly align and gradually move your teeth in one or two years’ time.

Though, the process might be quicker if you or your child gets them in their teenage.

Furthermore, you will have to wear retainers as the process ends.

This will help to keep the newly straight and aligned teeth in their position.

The retainers are removable or fixed.

If you don’t wear them religiously then you will have to repeat the process in the next few years.

Hence, continue retainers after braces so that your effort does not go to waste.

Invisalign 

An alternative to braces is clear aligners such as Invisalign.

These clear plastic aligners put pressure on your teeth to move them back in place.

You will get a series of aligners that will gradually put your front teeth backward.

It is helpful in treating a minor overbite and overjet.

Therefore, you should ask your dentist about the right choice for your child and yourself.

Functional Appliances

These appliances are used before braces and aligners to move the upper front teeth towards the back and bring the lower teeth forward.

Then your doctor proceeds to give you braces or Invisalign.

If these functional appliances are not effective on your overjet then may need to wear headgears or jaw surgery.

Jaw Surgery 

Your overbite and overjet may also result from your skeletal and jaw structure.

It brings the lower jaw forward and pushes the bones of the upper jaw backward.

This is for people who will not grow anymore and it corrects the alignment of both the upper and lower jaws with each other.

tools for treating buck teeth through palate expansion

 

Palate Expansion

Children may have a small upper jaw which does not make way for the adult teeth.

Hence, dentists use a palatal expander to attach it to upper molar teeth, which attached with a screw widens the palate by moving the two parts of the expander apart.

Children can get rid of this overjet by simply wearing retainers or extracting their baby teeth.

They can also use growth modification devices and braces while the rest of the treatments also apply to adults.

Conclusion 

If you are wondering how to fix Buck Teeth at home then you should stop using any remedies because only a dental treatment can align your teeth.

If you choose to forsake orthodontic treatment then make sure you take proper care of your oral health and hygiene.

You can wear a mouthguard while sleeping if you feel any tongue thrust.

Moreover, regularly visit the dentist to get rid of accumulating plaque and tartar.