What Causes Crooked Teeth

Many Scientists have studied what factors cause crooked teeth. Some people believe children who suck their thumb or people who eat only soft foods can cause teeth to fall out of alignment. Many of these ideas are only theory and have not been proved wrong or right.

The soft food idea suggests that because humans who only eat soft foods don’t exercise their jaw muscles can make the jaw become weak.

The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences recently published the “soft food causes crooked teeth” theory.

This new idea states that fact that humans have gone from primary hunter-gatherers to farmers, which started around 10,000 years ago

There is significant research that shows the correlation between how a population obtained its food and the natural shape of the jaw. Hunter-gatherers had much narrower and more jutting lower jaws whereas those of the agriculturalists were shorter and wider.

The shape of the upper jaw and palate also varied a bit between the farmers and hunter-gatherers.

The transition to farming and an increase in food processing both of which led to the consumption of softer foods resulted in a shorter and weaker human jaw.   Jaw shortening leads to greater crowding of the teeth.

While hunter-gatherers certainly had much stronger jaw bones which could allow them to consume hard foods, the strength did not come from greater exercising of the jaw muscles!  A narrowed jaw and palate, for example, can be identified in babies at birth long before they have chewed anything!

Many studies have looked at the correlation between jawbones and crooked teeth. But this day and age, orthodontists and dental surgeons can help fix any oral health problem. If you are insecure with your smile there is hope. You can feel good in your skin and have more confidence. Having straight teeth is a possibility for many people.