Mr Wen wants to conduct orthodontics, but end up with being told that four teeth should be extracted, which upset him a lot. Why orthodontics requires tooth extraction?

First of all, we need to know the reasons for tooth extraction before orthodontics. In the course of human evolution, the alveolar bone grows narrower and jawbone achieves an inadequate growth, leading to a limited room for teeth growth. That’s why there are crowded teeth and impacted wisdom teeth. Under such circumstance, tooth extraction serves a purpose of gaining enough room for orthodontics. Usually the decayed teeth or teeth that hardly have impact on mastication will be extracted.

Why it requires to extract four teeth at one time? It’s only misaligned on my lower arch of teeth. Well, extracting four teeth is to prevent malocclusion caused by loss of a single tooth. Human body is symmetric, especially the oral cavity. Loss of single tooth will not only cause a longer tooth on the counterpart position of the other arch, but also result in the change of chewing way. If you get used to chewing on one side of your teeth, over time it will cause such problems as malocclusion, aching pain, hard-to-open mouth and echoing joint when chewing. To put it simply, they may well be an asymmetrical face if you lose one tooth.

From the picture above, extraction before orthodontics obviously produces a restorative result for buck tooth. After the teeth are aligned, they will reach a greater utilization and become more conducive to mastication. The extraction of a few teeth won’t lay an adverse impact on your dining process.

It’s no need to worry that extracting tooth will cause other teeth to be loosen. It is because of the overcrowded teeth that you need to extract some of them. For instance, if you forcibly put 28 pens into a pen container which can only contain 24, then there is no choice but to put some in an oblique position. When the teeth causing overcrowded alignment are extracted, the rest of teeth can still reach a straight and compact alignment.

It may be a mental reaction that teeth after orthodontics aren’t able to deal with hard food. Slight discomfort and pain during orthodontics are considered as a normal situation. Because your teeth shift a bit under the force applied by braces. After the orthodontics has been completed and the braces havebeen removed, you can eat food normally without causing any adverse impact. Say that you have chosen invisible braces from the very beginning, then you don’t need to worry this aspect at all. You can remove the braces at anytime and eat what you want.  

 Though you dentist may follow your thought of strongly refusing extraction before orthodontics, the final result can’t be promised. It’d better to follow your dentist’s instructions if he has surely suggested to extract some teeth for orthodontics. As for an professional and experienced dentist, he must put forward a treatment plan that fits you the best.

Feel free to contact me if you have any dental problem. (Wechat ID: aiyuan325180)