How to Prevent Your Teeth From Shifting Any Further

You’ve gotten used to your smile for years, including all its unique quirks and minor imperfections. But now, when you look in the mirror, your teeth look — well — a little different. 

Could they be shifting?

In this blog, we’ll discuss why teeth shift and how you may be able to prevent your adult teeth from any further movement.

Understanding Why Your Teeth Are Shifting

We’re always taught that once our adult teeth grow in, they’re there to stay — and that’s kind of true. 

However, many things can happen over the years that impact the health of permanent teeth, causing them to decay, loosen, and fall out (or need to be extracted). 

But it isn’t just tooth loss we need to be concerned about. If the periodontal ligament loosens, your teeth can shift, too.

The periodontal ligament keeps your adult teeth firmly in place while your primary teeth fall out. This connective tissue is composed of strong collagen fibers and a network of nutrients and blood vessels. It keeps the cementum (the covering of the tooth root) attached to the jaw (specifically the alveolar bone). 

There’s just enough give in the ligament that your tooth can move to handle shock like chewing and pressure absorption, but not so much that it shifts.

Yet, the rigidity of this ligament can degrade, bringing a shift to your teeth that you didn’t want. Let’s look at some of the most common causes of loosened periodontal ligaments and shifting teeth:

Age

The changes in our primary teeth are obvious. If you’ve had children, you’ve seen them go from toothless, gummy droolers to little beavers with two teeth, to grinners with nearly perfect pearly whites. Then the cycle reverses as the “baby” teeth fall out and permanent teeth replace them. 

But even though that seems like the end, teeth continue to change with age, like when wisdom teeth come in, which often cause the rest of the teeth to shift to make room for them.

As we mature, our jawbone density changes, weakening periodontal ligaments and cementum grip. Without the strong hold to anchor the tooth in place, it begins to shift. Age can also bring problems like gum disease and dry mouth, both of which weaken the jawbone density. 

Got missing teeth?

Without replacing the gaps with dental implants, tooth loss causes decreased jawbone density, too — the remaining teeth shift (or migrate) to fill the gaps, causing bite misalignments and bruxism. Since tooth loss is more common with age and conditions like periodontitis, getting older brings with it shifting teeth. 

Learn More: Why Do Teeth Shift With Age? (And What Can I Do About It?) 

Medical Issues and Genetics

Certain medical conditions can also cause shifting teeth.

Do you breathe through your mouth while you’re sleeping? Do you frequently thrust your tongue forward, pushing against your lower teeth? 

These are symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea, which is linked with shifting teeth. Even the standard treatment for OSA, a CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) device, is associated with teeth shifting. 

Bruxism (teeth grinding and jaw clenching) is a sleep-related disorder that leads to shifting teeth. Because you’re putting so much pressure on your teeth when you grind, the enamel erodes and the soft tissue is damaged, weakening the periodontal ligaments and allowing for teeth shifting. 

Oral health issues like shifting teeth may also be genetic. Shifting teeth could be in your DNA if your ancestral line passed down misaligned teeth, crowding, and overbites. 

Hormones

We all face the power of hormones in our lives, but pregnancy and menopause bring new changes that often include shifting teeth. 

As hormones like estrogen and progesterone loosen the muscles and bones to prepare a woman’s body for childbirth, the periodontal ligaments become part of this adjustment. The added weight gain and poor oral hygiene that come with morning sickness, carrying a child, and fatigue make pregnancy a perfect hotbed for loose and shifting teeth.

But once your childbearing years are over, you’re not quite out of the woods yet. Menopausal symptoms like hot flashes and dry mouth increase the chances of teeth shifting.

No matter the cause of those migrating teeth, you don’t have to endure it forever. It’s possible to stop your teeth from shifting further if you know the reason for the movement and potential solutions.

Preventing Teeth Shifting With Better Oral Healthcare

Your dentist hasn’t been lying to you all these years. Your oral health routine is crucial if you want to keep your teeth and gums healthy. It also matters when you are trying to mitigate shifting teeth.

No matter the cause of your shifting teeth, these simple tips work under the surface to help keep the periodontal ligaments from loosening further:

• Brush your teeth twice a day with fluoride toothpaste. Follow with floss once daily and use an antibacterial and gum/enamel-strengthening mouth rinse.
• Avoid hard, chewy, acidic, and sticky foods that can get caught in your gumline or add extra stress to your teeth.
• Stay hydrated to keep your mouth cleansed of debris that attracts more bacteria and to avoid bad breath.
• Use a warm saltwater rinse daily to reduce bacteria and inflammation.
• Cut back on unhealthy habits that harm the gums and teeth, such as tobacco use, excessive alcohol use (which leads to dry mouth), and illicit drug use.

   

In the meantime, schedule an appointment with your dentist to ensure nothing more serious is causing your teeth to move. A boosted oral hygiene routine is always a good idea, but it can only slow down — not stop — the damage if there’s an underlying problem besides poor oral health.

Getting Active to Stop Shifting Teeth

Just as how you care (or don’t care) for your teeth doesn’t reflect in instant visibility, neither will you see the obvious impact of better hygiene on teeth that have moved.

However, you should notice that they’re not moving more.

Still, it’s understandable to want to be sure what you’re doing is helping. You don’t have to wait until your next six-month checkup to find out what to do next if your teeth are still shifting. 

Here are some action steps you can take to slow or stop the movement:

• Use a night guard when sleeping to reduce the pressure of grinding on your teeth. Be sure this oral appliance is custom-made to fit your teeth perfectly; otherwise, it can have the opposite effect and cause your teeth to shift more.
• If you’ve had braces removed recently, wear your retainer as your doctor instructed to prevent your straightened teeth from moving back to their original positions. If it’s been a while since you’ve worn this device and it doesn’t fit snugly, you may need to have a new retainer crafted.
• Do you have misaligned teeth or a bad bite? Braces or orthodontics, such as Invisalign and other clear aligners, may be necessary to shift your teeth where they’re supposed to go.
• Talk to your dentist about how implants may solve your shifting teeth and jawbone density issues if you have missing teeth.

   

If only one or two teeth are moving, consider dental bonding to support and stabilize the ligaments. Bonding, made from composite resin, is a type of cosmetic dentistry that creates a more rigid surface enamel. It connects the shifting tooth to healthy surrounding teeth to minimize movement.

Signs Your Teeth May Be Shifting

Dental checkups are integral to keeping your teeth and gums healthy, but you don’t want your dentist to be the first person to tell you your teeth are shifting. By the time they notice, the problem might not be as easily fixable as if you caught it between exams.

So, how can you tell if your teeth aren’t as secure as they once were? 

Attention is the key. What does your smile look like right now? What color are your gums? Are there any gaps or spaces between your teeth? When you floss, are there any areas that are more sensitive or tend to bleed?

Get familiar with your beautiful smile (including anything you consider an imperfection) because that knowledge will help you recognize when changes happen.

Now that you’re paying close attention to your dental health, watch for these warnings:

• Bleeding gums when you brush or floss
• Sensitive teeth, particularly to temperature changes or brushing
• A retainer or night guard that doesn’t fit flush anymore (whether it’s too tight or too loose doesn’t matter)
• Changes in your bite that you notice when you close your upper and lower arches
• Loose teeth

   

Read On: 8 Signs Your Teeth Are Shifting

Any of these symptoms can go away on their own with a little extra TLC and a good oral hygiene routine. However, if they persist for more than a week or two, it’s time to seek professional dental care.

Note, though, that signs of loose teeth should never be ignored. Your dentist may be able to stabilize the tooth by bonding it to the healthy teeth around it. This connection reduces extra tooth movement and gives the loose ligament time to heal. 

It may be a temporary measure while the dentist determines a long-term solution, or the dental bonding could be enough to solve the issue. Either way, the consequences of ignoring a loose tooth are usually dental issues like decay and extraction, or a tooth that falls out on its own.

Conclusion

No one wants to look in the mirror and see that their teeth are beginning to shift. It’s a scary slope that makes us wonder when the movement will stop! 

Talk to a dental professional about treatment options for culprits like periodontal disease or misalignments (especially in your front teeth) that lead to lower jaw bone loss and shifting teeth. 

When you’re ready to take action, check out our night guards and retainers, designed to protect your teeth from the damage of bruxism and other teeth-shifting causes.

Shop Our Products at JS Dental Lab Today!