Normally, people chew food on both sides of the teeth alternately. However, there are lots of people who get used to using one side to chew the food, which is called unilateral chewing by the dentists. The dentists say that unilateral chewing will not only cause asymmetric face, but also damage the appearance and trigger lots of oral problems. Hence, it is utmost important to bring it to our attention and solve it immediately.

The harmful effects of chewing on one side are as below:

Ⅰ.Malocclusion

The chewing function of the teeth on the chewing side will be stimulated constantly, so that the teeth on the chewing side are damaged and lose the battle force. Meanwhile, the teeth will be pushed by the chewing force while chewing; the gum will shift from the chewing side to the other side as time passes, which will cause malocclusion. That is to say, the original corresponding occlusion relationship of the upper and lower teeth is altered.

Ⅱ.Asymmetric face

If you use one side of your teeth chewing for a long time, the jaw and the muscle will be more developed. On the contrary, the jaw and muscle on other seldom used chewing side will be thin. In this way, one side of the face is full and the other side is thin and the whole face will lack beauty of symmetry.

Ⅲ .Prone to dental caries and gingivitis

In the process of chewing, there are some frictions between the food and the teeth surface, which can remove the bacteria and food residue on the teeth surface. This is the so-called self-cleaning function. The disuse chewing side teeth will lose the function of self-cleaning because it do not participate in chewing and the dental calculus will accumulate and the probability of dental cavity, gingivitis, periodontitis and other periodontal diseases will greatly increase after a considerable period of time.

Ⅳ .Severe teeth abrasion

Chewing side teeth can cause serious wear and abrasion due to long-time excessive overloading. The teeth will be sensitive and ache will appear when the teeth come across cold, hot, sour and sweet food.

Ⅴ .TMJ(Temporomandibular Joint) Disorders

The difference of temporomandibular joints and the other joints is that temporomandibular Joint is a left-right linkage joint. That is to say, the bilateral mandible and teeth move simultaneously. If chew with one side teeth, the joint structure and function will be changed as time passes and eventually there will be clicking sound on the joint zone when open and close the teeth.

Ⅵ .Stomach illness

With unilateral chewing, people frequently gulp the food. Then it is difficult to intensively mix the amylase in saliva and starch in food, which will increase the burden of the stomach and be likely to get stomach diseases.

Shenzhen A.K.J Stomatological Hospital experts express that it is of great importance to advocate the harmful effects of the unilateral habit. For the people, especially the kids who have formed the habit of unilateral chewing, the parents are required to be patient with the correction intervening and help the kids to restore bilateral chewing function. The imbalanced facial development will lead to the imbalanced cerebral hemispheric development and thus result in subjects over partially or even extreme behavior.