As you can see from the above graph, malocclusion (misalignment of teeth) is a big problem in modern society, as roughly 2/3 of people have some degree of malocclusion. So what's causing this? Stephan had a big write-up on this topic last year. The subject can get confusing because there seems to be multiple causes. Is it poor nutrition? Is it soft food? Is it pacifier use?
A new paper sheds some light on the subject by trying to separate out the various causes. First, they point out that the switch to agricultural food did lead to a reduction in tooth size and also facial size. However, this dietary change did not lead to more malocclusion or tooth crowding.
What they believe did lead to malocclusion is the increase in food processing. The softer food led to less muscular work by the jaw muscles, which subsequently reduced the size of the jaw relative to the teeth. This lack of muscular work also produced asymmetries in terms of overbite, underbite, etc.
As far as solutions, the authors focus on techniques that will increase the development of the jaw bone area versus just pulling teeth. Along those lines, there are tons of products available, but I would like to point out one for its simplicty.
This product has been developed as an alternative to braces. The idea is to have children chew on it for a short amount of time each day. According to the website, this can be enough to stimulate the jaw area and bring things back in line over time. I have no idea how effective this product actually is, but it seems realistic to me that it could work.
Short of buying a specialized product, more chewing of tougher foods would also be beneficial to children's jaw development.
As you can see from the above graph, malocclusion (misalignment of teeth) is a big problem in modern society, as roughly 2/3 of people have some degree of malocclusion. So what's causing this? Stephan had a big write-up on this topic last year. The subject can get confusing because there seems to be multiple causes. Is it poor nutrition? Is it soft food? Is it pacifier use?
A new paper sheds some light on the subject by trying to separate out the various causes. First, they point out that the switch to agricultural food did lead to a reduction in tooth size and also facial size. However, this dietary change did not lead to more malocclusion or tooth crowding.
What they believe did lead to malocclusion is the increase in food processing. The softer food led to less muscular work by the jaw muscles, which subsequently reduced the size of the jaw relative to the teeth. This lack of muscular work also produced asymmetries in terms of overbite, underbite, etc.
As far as solutions, the authors focus on techniques that will increase the development of the jaw bone area versus just pulling teeth. Along those lines, there are tons of products available, but I would like to point out one for its simplicty.
This product has been developed as an alternative to braces. The idea is to have children chew on it for a short amount of time each day. According to the website, this can be enough to stimulate the jaw area and bring things back in line over time. I have no idea how effective this product actually is, but it seems realistic to me that it could work.
Short of buying a specialized product, more chewing of tougher foods would also be beneficial to children's jaw development.